


How It Will End

by Milo_F_Waters



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comedy, F/F, F/M, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-05-10 01:06:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 95,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14727047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milo_F_Waters/pseuds/Milo_F_Waters
Summary: Steven has escaped from Homeworld. His family and friends are ecstatic to have him back, but none of them are sure what to do now. Especially when Steven’s abilities start progressing at a rapid rate. Not only does he grow stronger and faster by the day, but he discovers some all new powers! Although it may for the best, since the Diamonds are not happy with his departure...





	1. Prologue: Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story depicting one fan's ideas on how his favorite cartoon of all time will conclude. This story begins immediately after the Season 5 episode "Lars' Head" and will borrow some elements from canon. Other than that, it will be an original story. Like the actual series, it will get darker as time goes on hence the teen rating. And now, without further ado, enjoy.

One minute he was running for his life from mechanized spheres trying to murder him. He met a group of defective Gems called the Off-Colors that were persecuted just like him. He had to watch a longtime friend of his die trying to protect him, only to somehow revive him from the dead with his tears. It was a miracle that just kept giving as Steven Universe suddenly had the perfect escape back to Earth.

Now he was home. As he fell through Lion’s mane onto the floor of his bedroom Steven’s mind was still reeling. _“I’m alive! I’m on Earth! The others are-“_

His bewilderment was interrupted when a bright column of light sprung up from the Warp Pad revealing Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Connie and his father Greg all with dire looks. The jubilant half-Gem ran down the stairs and stopped just as Pearl began pacing back and forth in a huff.

“This is hopeless,” she muttered, “We'll never get that dropship to fly and we're losing time! Who knows what they're doing to Steven. Hi, Steven. What are we going to d...” was all she got out before the five saw him.

Their expressions all became elated with Pearl and Greg getting misty-eyed just seeing their pride and joy alive and well again. They all rushed him with open arms and Steven just laughed as the nightmare seemed to finally be over. He knew he had to retrieve Lars and the Off-Colors from the terrors of Homeworld someday, but for now he soaked up the love his family and best friend were sharing at his return.

\---

However, unbeknownst to any of them, there were two souls furious at Steven.

Millions of lightyears away, on the bustling Gem Homeworld there was a frantic search growing going through the planet wide city. Robotic patrols scoured the top of every skyscraper and the darkest corner between buildings for any sign of the dreaded “Rose Quartz”. Gems were disgruntled by the intrusions some of the robonoids as they broke the daily flow. The chaos was all coming from a single black spire where the two primary matriarchs of the galaxy-spanning Gem empire were still in a frenzy over the past few minutes. Both of them were fifty-feet tall and shared a sense of disbelief at how a common execution had turned into such a fiasco.

The more vocal of the two was various shades of yellow with a normally reticent demeanor that was pushed to its limits. She was heatedly commanding dozens of orders from her personal screen as she found absolutely no trace of their prisoner. She would never resort to piloting robonoids herself, but this was a matter she refused to let her subjects know about if she could avoid it. The other was several hues of blue with a constantly mournful expression that was reigning more than ever as tears of confusion and bitterness dropped several stories to the illuminated floor beneath her. She was finally going to have justice for her fallen sister, the very Gem responsible for all this pain was right in front of her, and now nothing!

Yellow Diamond was growing ever more restless with the fruitlessness of her efforts until she finally snapped her screen shut and screamed in anger. “HOW?! How could that accursed Rose Quartz escape?! I have thousands of robonoids scanning every fiber of the capital and everything is coming up negative!”

“Is there any warp activity?” Blue Diamond peeped.

“Negative. And, unless she defused every radar on the planet simultaneously, has not stolen any aircraft. There isn’t even any Gem witness who can vouch for it, although that may be for the best. We do not need this going public, but now that we know she is still whole we **cannot** let that remain. Pearl?”

“Yes, my Diamond?” asked Yellow Pearl, still standing beside her massive throne.

“You are to not let any Gem know about the events that just transpired here. Report to every Gem under my command on Homeworld and the nearest colonies to increase monitoring all aircraft and warp activity until further notice. You have permission to declare this as a direct order from me and, if necessary, have any Gem who questions your authority shattered.”

Her Pearl’s face lit up at being handed such a monumental task. “With pleasure, my Diamond! I swear we will capture that traitor at once!” She dashed off to the nearest warp pad to reach the first communication tower in the vicinity with an even more arrogant skip in her step.

With that addressed, Yellow Diamond turned to her blue counterpart who was still racking with silent sobs. In a rare moment of comfort, she placed a hand on Blue Diamond’s shoulder. “Blue, you need to have your pearl do the same,” she quietly demanded, “We are not going to track down that Rose Quartz by standing here wallowing in guilt.”

Suddenly the crying ceased. The normally docile Diamond grew silent as cracks began appearing in the floor beneath her feet. Her mind was suddenly filled with images of Rose Quartz facing the most painful fates imaginable. When she spoke, it sounded as if ice itself found a voice. “I understand, Yellow. We will find her and she will _**pay**_ for her crimes. I will not rest until I have her in pieces.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! That ends the first chapter of easily the biggest story I have created. Why do I fear this is going to take near-infinity to actually finish?  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Let me know if you enjoy this story and if you have any questions or suggestions.


	2. Business as Usual

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, 300 hits already?! Dang! Thank you all so much for the support! And now, we have the "proper" first chapter with everyone winding down after their reunion. Enjoy!

After what felt like hours the group hug in the beach house broke up yet the cheer was still evident. All eyes were still on Steven as if he would vanish out of thin air or the wonderful dream would end. Greg was the first to speak up, grasping his son by the shoulders.

“Steven, thank the starts you’re okay! Are you hurt? Did those Gems probe you or something?”

“Probe? Geez, Greg. We aren’t your cheesy sci-fi movies,” Amethyst cracked, “What, do you think we have little antenna hidden somewhere?”

“Hey! When you are an average car washing millionaire whose son has been abducted by sentient space rocks, you aren’t that well-informed about the situation.”

Garnet lowered down and lifted the distraught father back to his feet. “It’s alright, Greg. We haven’t been on Homeworld in thousands of years, so we aren’t the foremost experts on the topic.”

This got Connie flustered all over again. “So what did they do to you? Did they torture you? Test dangerous experiments on you? Throw you in some horrific gladiator arena where you had to battle cosmic horrors for their amusement?!”

Of all people, Pearl was the one who had to get her to calm down before she started hyperventilating. “Connie, don’t work yourself up over that. Clearly, Steven is unharmed. They probably just put him in some jail cell.” That got Connie to breath normally again, but started up her own paranoia.

“So… just out of curiosity… I mean, to put everyone else at ease, what exactly happened to you on Homeworld?”

Steven answered with “The Diamonds put me on trial,” as easily as most people would comment on the weather. Pearl did not take the news well.

“You were on trial in front of the DIAMONDS?! They would shatter you on sight! HOW?! ARE?! YOU?! STILL?! ALIIIIIIVE?!” she screamed like a banshee while shaking the half-Gem by his wrinkled pink shirt. He could only respond with a shout, his voice billowing along with his garment. Garnet had to literally pry Pearl’s quaking hands off his clothes to get her to stop.

“Relax, Pearl. I’m sure Steven will tell us all the story in the morning. Right now, he needs some sleep and we all need some time to readjust now that we don’t have to mount a rescue mission.” As if on command, Steven let out a huge yawn as the adrenaline from his Homeworld escapades left his system. Amethyst decided to carry him up to his bed to save him the trouble of walking while Pearl and Garnet left for the temple and Greg promised Connie a ride home as they walked outside. In only a few minutes Steven was fast asleep in his favorite yellow pajamas, the Gems went to their respective rooms to unwind and Connie was buckling up as Mr. Universe started up his van. Connie was completely silent for several minutes of uneventful nighttime driving. Greg noticed how morose she was for a girl whose best friend miraculously returned from certain death and tried to raise her spirits.

“Sure it a gorgeous night, eh Connie?” he asked in the hopes of starting a conversation.

“Yeah, real pretty.” Her eyes never left the window as the small expanse of Beach City passed for the grassy roads leading to the Mahesweran household.

“I bet your parents are gonna be thrilled to hear Steven’s okay!”

“Yep. They were worried sick hearing about it.” Greg decided to try a more direct approach.

“So, uh, do you have anything on your chest bugging you?”

“Just really tired. I want to forget all this ever happened.”

This was the final straw and the talking ceased for the rest of the trip. Before long they pulled up in front of Connie’s house. She did give a solid thank you before exiting his van and heading to her front door.

“Sheesh. She must have something eating away at her…” he muttered to no one as he stayed parked for a few moments. “Eh, her parents are smart enough to get to the bottom of this.” He then put the van back in drive and headed to his car wash for his own good night’s sleep.

\---

All of the lights were still on at the Mahesweran house despite the late hour. Dr. Priyanka Mahesweran was sitting in one of the living room couches with a mug of coffee to keep her energy high despite her body crying out for sleep. Her husband Doug was currently running a sort of patrol around the house to calm his nerves, currently pacing in the kitchen while silently debating if he could sneak a pudding cup from the fridge while his wife was occupied. Both of them burning the midnight oil was rewarded as their beloved daughter enter through the front door. Priyanka wasted no time wrapping her arms around her daughter with all the strength she could muster from the caffeine in her system.

“Connie! I wasn’t sure what time you were coming back, so I waited up for you. Any developments?”

She pulled back and noticed how dejected Connie was, setting off her maternal instincts. “Connie? Did something happen while you and the Gems were working? Are you hurt?!”

“No. Steven’s back on Earth. He found his own way home,” she spoke flatly.

“What?! That’s… fantastic! I’m so glad this all worked out, I figured the police would be no help and…” she continued to ramble, mostly thanks to her remaining nerves and the rest of the coffee she downed in her fervor, but Connie lost interest and started walking upstairs to her room. Before she could reach the staircase, though, she was tackled to the floor by her father.

“Connie! How did you get home by yourself? Did you all finish that spaceship already? Do I need to come into space this time?” he asked in rapid-fire succession.

“Dad?! No, it’s fine! Mr. Universe drove me home and Steven’s back anyway so…”

That only got Doug even more riled up. Not wanting to face another onslaught of overprotective parent badgering, Connie dashed up the stairs and slammed the door to her room. Mr. and Mrs. Mahesweran were puzzled by this.

“What’s gotten into her? I’d have guessed her to be over the moon seeing Steven alive and well again. Did he say something to her?” Doug pondered.

Dr. Mahesweran just shrugged her shoulders. “Who can say? Regardless of the case, Connie must be exhausted after all this and she could use some sleep. As could we.” As the parents made their way up, however, the doctor was the one with a medical question for her spouse.

“Doug?”

“Yes, dear?”

“Do you know how to get my hand to stop jittering?” She held up her right hand, now shaking like a leaf, for emphasis. “I think that fourth cup was a mistake.”

“Don’t worry, your body will process it all soon. I had to build up plenty of tolerance to work the night shifts at first. Besides,” he began whisper into her hair as his hand wrapped around hers to keep them steady, “We both know I’m better at keeping you up than putting you to sleep,” he added with a coy grin.

Priyanka was mortified. “Doug?! Keep it down with that, Connie is in the house and probably still awake!” she said in hushed whispers, not realizing they had already passed Connie’s room. The Maheswerans’ two-story townhouse had a living room and kitchen take up the ground floor while the upper floor was a linear hallway with the master bedroom at the end, Connie’s bedroom on the right side of the hall and her own full bathroom to the left side plus a storage closet next to Connie’s room.

As her parents continued to banter as they readied for bed, Connie was trying to put her still racing mind to rest as she lay in bed still dressed in full clothes. She had a jumble of thoughts all coursing through her brain at once. After what felt like eternity she managed to keep her eyes shut and drift off to sleep, hoping that the ringing in her ears would cease.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that brings another chapter to a close. Will Connie's issues be addressed? What will happen with the Crystal Gems? Why does this all play out like a slice-of-life story when the prologue ended with Blue Diamond wanting Steven dead?! Tune in next time to find out!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Let me know if you enjoy this story and if you have any questions or suggestions.


	3. Back to Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we've passed 500 hits! In less than a week! Thank you, kind readers! This chapter will add a bit of excitement to the story with a good old-fashioned mission. Anyone else remember when those were a regular thing on this show before all the alien politics and conspiracy theories?

Steven awoke to find the sun well above the horizon and his body fully refreshed after a night of alien legislation and oppression. He relished just being able to relax in his own bed after so much happened. As he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes he noticed the sounds of waves outside, the quiet snoring of Lion on the couch below him and a certain figure right next to him.

“Good morning, Steven. You seem well rested,” said Pearl as she kneeled at the side of his bed. She had a habit many months back about watching her young charge sleep, but Steven never remembered her staying all night.

“Uh, hey Pearl. Are you okay?” he asked, slightly flustered by her presence.

“Oh, I’m just glad to see you sleep well after such a traumatic experience. Plus, I suddenly had so much free time on my hands…” Steven gradually got up and moved down to the bathroom in order to change clothes. Since he was in there, he decided to shower and brush his teeth as well. After about half an hour he finally felt clean and donned his regular pink shirt and jeans, ready to take on the day after a hearty breakfast. When he exited the bathroom, however, he saw Pearl standing beside the counter with a plate of waffles and eggs already prepared.

“Pearl, you made me breakfast?”

“Of course I did, Steven. I guessed the last thing you’d want to do is cook so I took the liberty to prepare your meal.”

"Um, thanks?” he shrugged. His skepticism was not because he did not appreciate the fact, but considering Pearl did not eat at all makes her as qualified to cook as Steven was to practice orthodontics. His fears, however, quickly melted away when he caught scent of the still hot waffles dripping in maple syrup and eggs scrambled with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of cheese. The thought was doubled by his growling stomach as he sat down in dug in, Pearl moving behind him as he tore into his breakfast with gusto. The most he had to do was get some water to drink as he downed his food in no time flat.

“Thanks, Pearl! When did you get so good at cooking?” he asked the Gem still observing him.

“Well, I myself may not need nourishment, but I know you do and seeing as I’ve watched your eating habits for over seven years I figured out how you enjoy your food to be prepared.” Her mouth could not help but form a small smirk as she spoke. “Do you need anything else, Steven?” “No thanks. I’m just going to around town for a bit and see how everyone is.” He gave Peal a hug before running out the door in his sandals. Soon after, Amethyst emerged from her room and noticed the plate for Steven’s breakfast was in the sink. The smaller Gem let out an annoyed groan.

“Aw man! He’s done breakfast already? I was going to snatch some off of him,” she grumbled before noticing her fellow Gem. “Hey Pearl. What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing, Amethyst. I just need to go outside for a while.”

“Okay. Have fun.” She was already snooping in the fridge for something to eat as Pearl walked out the front door.

\---

Steven spent the entire day going around Beach City on his bike checking in on everyone after all the excitement yesterday. While the residents of the sleepy town had a tendency to overlook most of the supernatural occurrences around them, the fact that two of their own were abducted was impossible to ignore. While everyone was overjoyed to see Steven in one piece, there was still despair since Lars had not returned. His mother and father took the news the hardest and Sadie was rather crushed when she heard the news as well, though all of them reassured that he could bring him home. Mayor Dewey decided to take a proactive approach and was announcing new security measures in case of further extraterrestrial encounters. As the sun began to set, Steven finally called it a day and headed home. As he turned his bike onto the sand he felt all the strain set in and looked forward to another night of sleep. When he opened the door to his home, he found someone sitting on the couch.

“Good evening Steven.”

“Hey Garnet,” he muttered tiredly as he began to gather his things for bed, “What are you doing here?”

“Just waiting for Pearl to get back. She’s been out all day.”

“Really? I was out all around town and I never saw her.”

“I know, it’s not like her to just leave without notice. Don’t worry about it, though, you just get to bed.”

“Okay. Good night Garnet.” With that and a mighty yawn, he snuggled into his covers as the moon began to rise and Pearl entered the house. She started to head up the stairs towards Steven’s room but someone else got her attention by clearing her throat.

“Garnet! Oh, I, well this is, um, what are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you. You just left this morning.”

“Well, I thought some fresh air would be a great relief after being so stressed out, that’s all…” she replied with the confidence of a leaf going up against a hurricane.

“I know you spent the entire day following Steven around town. I know you can be protective, but this is pushing it.”

Pearl sighed in defeat as, once again, Garnet was one step ahead. “I know, it seems ridiculous to have to watch over him all day, but I felt horrible just letting him go like that. He’s extremely fortunate to still be here and I would hate myself if something were to happen to him.”

Garnet simply walked back into her room, muttering “I know the feeling…” under her breath. Pearl did not pick up on it.

“What was that, Garnet?” “Just ease up on Steven. He will be fine.”

\---

For several days Steven simply enjoyed life as normal without any threat from the Diamonds or other magical maladies. He spent time with each of the Gems, hung out with his dad, and basked in the relative normalcy he had. Not everything was perfect, though, since he could not get a hold of Connie. He tried calling her several times a day and left voicemails suggesting they should hang out. When none of those got replies, he began worrying he upset her somehow and started making apologies and offering to talk it out. Still nothing and now it had been almost a week! He started carrying around his phone constantly, sometimes just staring at it for minutes at a time as dread began to envelope him that he jeopardized his relationship with his best friend.

He was in one of those funks while Amethyst was messing around with the television and Pearl was folding Steven’s laundry when Garnet emerges from her room in the temple with an important announcement.

“Everyone, we have a mission. There’s a corrupted Gem on the loose that needs to be stopped.”

That quickly got everyone’s attention, particularly Steven who looked up from his phone happy to have something else occupy his mind. As they all gathered on the warp pad, Pearl looked to Garnet with worry and started to whisper into her ear.

“I think we should leave Steven home for this one. I’m not sure he should be exposed to this much commotion so soon…”

“Pearl, it has been a week. Steven is more than capable of handling himself on a mission. If it makes you feel better, you can stay by his side.”

The youngest Crystal Gem was oblivious to their conversation as they landed in their destination: a snowy expanse not unlike the last mission he went on with Connie. The biggest difference was that instead of trees covering the area, it was a bare tundra with nothing distinguishing about the landscape except crevasses and mounds changing the terrain. Thankfully, Pearl had one of Steven’s winter coats on hand in her Gem and placed it around his shoulders as he began to shiver. Garnet, knowing they had a wide area to cover, planned to split them up. This naturally meant she headed off to the east with Amethyst while Pearl and Steven took to the west. The two Gems set off, scanning the icy steppe for any sign of their target. Steven was taking the cold on the chin, while Pearl began getting rather jittery as her nerves frayed.

The minutes passed as the two traipsed the frozen land with little to occupy them but the sounds of frigid winds and their thoughts. Steven was calmly humming a tune to himself while Pearl’s paranoia continued to act up, checking behind her, above her head, or even pausing altogether to look around for threats.

“Pearl, what’s wrong? You look scared,” Steven addressed.

“Oh, it’s nothing Steven. I’m just… wondering how Garnet and Amethyst are doing! Yes, that must be it!” she stammered. Steven only raised his eyebrow before resuming his tune only for him to almost fall off a shelf of ice.

“Steven! Don’t be so reckless! You could have hurt yourself!” shouted Pearl in near-hysterics. Steven looked down past the edge of the cliff, worried that something horrible lay at the bottom and…

“It’s only three feet.” To prove his point, he jumped off the edge and easily stopped whatever minor damage could have happened with a bit of floating. Pearl was not amused.

“That’s beside the point. You were not watching where you were going and needlessly put yourself at risk.” She quickly jumped after him and looked down on him in anger.

“Pearl, I’m sorry! You’re right I wasn’t watching where I was going, but it’s nothing to get worked up about.” He was trying to diffuse the situation, but Pearl was not letting it go.

“I knew you weren’t ready for this again. I should’ve convinced Garnet to make you stay at the temple…”

“What?!” Now Steven was getting riled. It was one matter to yell at him, but talking behind his back was a sore subject for him. “Why would you do that? I’m not some little kid, I can take care of myself!”

“Well apparently not!” She grabbed Steven by the wrist and started tugging him back towards the warp pad. “As soon as we get home, you are grounded until further notice! And I’ll be sure to tell the other Gems _and_ your father to make sure you don’t run off!”

“But I don’t need someone doting on me. I’m a Crystal Gem just like you!”

The two were now at a standstill as the winds whipped around them. Pearl was desperately pulling with all her strength, but Steven was dragging his feet to keep him in place. Despite the cold, one could practically see the steam coming off of the two as they argued until Pearl finally lost it.

“Oh, _really_? Because the last time _I_ heard, you were trying to pass yourself off as **Rose Quartz**!”

Suddenly Steven felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Pearl looked devastated as soon as the words left her mouth. They looked at each other as snowflakes started to pelt the two in the growing wind. Pearl tried to backpedal as the younger Gem’s eyes began to tear up.

“Steven… I…”

Before much discussion could happen, though, the ice began to buckle beneath and a deafening roar sounded across the snowy plain. A massive figure began to emerge several feet away: a humongous furry mammoth over twenty feet tall and thirty feet long with purple-white fur, two massive tusks as long as Garnet which it was using to carve through the ice floor like butter, and a huge trunk with a light-violet, square Gem along its enormous length. Its cloudy white eyes were focused on the two Crystal Gems, enraged that they disturbed its slumber with all their commotion and began bellowing as it charged straight at them. Steven and Pearl pulled out their respective weapons and tried to outflank the creature, but it simply turned its body and slammed into the two with its curiously hard tail. The two were sent sprawling and decided they needed Garnet and Amethyst for a creature of this size.

Steven leaped in front of Pearl, his shield poised to block whatever the monster could dish out. “Go, Pearl!” he shouted as them monster readied another charge, “You find the others, I’ll keep it busy.”

Pearl, though touched by his bravery, refused to abandon him and instead got in front of him with her spear at the ready.

"No Steven, let me deal with this thing while you get the others!”

The behemoth just kept coming closer as they two squabbled over who was protecting who, one leaping in front of the other hoping to act as a shield long enough for the others to arrive. After several switches, Pearl won out as the corrupted mammoth was only a few feet away. She soared into the air with a massive jump as Steven began running behind it to find Garnet and Amethyst. As Pearl hit the arc of her jump, she forced herself down at an accelerated rate with her spear pointed straight at the monster’s spine. It was a direct hit, but the corrupted Gem refused to go down with one hit. While it yelled in pain, it lurched upwards and forced Pearl, still clinging to her weapon, back onto the snowy ground in a daze. Its rigid tail suddenly snapped like a whip and forced the already stunned Pearl several feet into the ice. With one nuisance crushed, it turned its hateful eyes at a now terrified Steven, clinging to his shield for dear life!

As much as Steven wanted to check on Pearl, he knew stopping this beast was the top priority and ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. He prayed the others heard the scuffle and were already on their way, but he turned around to find the monster was charging behind him. Much to his horror, it seems the Gem was much faster than it appeared as the distance between it and Steven was rapidly closing! Steven was one step away from panicking, but suddenly got an idea. He banked a quick right turn and, like he planned, the monster tried in vain to follow him only to skid hopelessly out of control thanks to its greater momentum. The mammoth Gem ended up flat on its side and flailed its feet in vain, desperate to regain its footing. Unfortunately for it, Steven was not done as he ran forward looking to finish the job.

_“I can’t believe that worked!”_ he thought excitedly. His body was filled with adrenaline and he could swear his Gem was glowing as he charged at the downed behemoth.

His thoughts were equally filled with joy. _“I can do this myself! I can protect them! I can do this!”_ He felt his weapon appear in hand and planned to push the monster into a snowbank he spotted, or possibly retaliate if it somehow got up for a second round. He readied his shield, holding it straight at the monster’s underside and made contact…

And then it poofed! One minute it was still struggling to get up, thrashing at the ground with its trunk and tail in rage, and the next minute nothing! All that remained was a purple square which Steven bubbled without a second thought. Before he could send it back to the temple, he heard someone running up to him at breakneck speed.

“Hang on Steven!” Pearl shouted over the arctic wind, unaware the danger had passed. She had spears in both hands, radiating righteous fury, ready to protect her beloved Steven…

“Pearl, it’s okay!” he cheered and showed the now bubbled Gem, “I did it! I stopped the monster!”

The older Gem was baffled at first. Steven beat a monster by himself? While her mind struggled to catch up on how, pride quickly began to overtake as she hugged Steven. They embraced each other as the winds began to die down and the clouds parted. The sunshine lit them and the plain up as peace and quiet was restored to the tundra once more. As Pearl let go of her charge, however, the weapon still in Steven’s hand caught her eye.

“Steven, where did you get that?” she asked tepidly.

“What do you mean, Pearl?” Steven asked back, still elated with his victory.

“I mean, when did you get my spear?”

The young boy had no idea what she was talking about. He looked at his weapon, still summoned in his one hand, only to find the point of a pink spear.

“WHAT THE?!” shouted Steven in disbelief. He could have sworn he was holding his shield, but his eyes were not playing tricks on him. Pearl stood up, completely baffled, as she pulled her own spear out for comparison. The only differences between the two was the color (Steven’s was pink to match his own Gem) and the size as the boy was several feet shorter. There was no mistaking it, though. Steven had somehow copied Pearl’s weapon in the heat of the battle. The two began trudging through the snow in stunned silence with Steven keeping his spear out. He gripped it as hard as he could, in case this all turned out to be an elaborate dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprised? Just wait for more cliffhangers, more emotional turmoil, and more of Pearl being the overbearing yet lovable nutjob we've all come to love!   
> Thank you all so much for reading! Let me know if you enjoy this story and if you have any questions or suggestions.


	4. Moving On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, dear readers! Welcome back to my over-sized head-canon! Today, we settle the issues Connie has been having after the whole Diamond mess. Also, almost 700 hits! Hooray! Onward into conflict!

When Garnet and Amethyst reunited with Steven and Pearl, they were impressed to find the monster already defeated and bubbled. They were also shocked to see the two look so bewildered, despite their victory with what appears to be no serious casualties. It was answered when they caught sight of Steven holding his own spear. Amethyst, of course, thought this could only be a positive.

“Dude that is AWESOME!” she cheered as they all marched through the snow. “Does this mean you can do ANY Gem weapon? Can you do fusion weapons?! Ooh, I can’t wait to teach you how to use my whip!” Pearl just put her face in her hands and groaned at that last statement.

Steven was glad to see Amethyst was so eager because he was beyond perplexed. He never had a brand new ability show up in the middle of a fight. Of course they all sprung up at some point, but at least his shield, his bubble, his healing tears, and his floating happened when he was not fighting for his life. It did not help that with the mission complete, his mind turned back to Connie. The only thought stopping him from checking his phone was the complete lack of cell service in the Arctic.

Eventually the group all made it back to the temple and sent the corrupted Gem bubble to be stored with the others. Before anyone could comment on their latest mission, Steven’s cell phone rang. The young boy finally dissipated his spear and answered the call as fast as he could.

“Hello? Connie?”

“No, Steven, it’s your dad.”

Steven deflated slightly, but kept his voice high. “Oh hey Dad. What’s up?”

“It’s just a weird thing is happening at the car wash. When was the last time you talked to Connie?”

“I haven’t heard from her in over a week. I’ve been trying to call her for days, but she never picks up. What’s the problem?” He was not liking where this was going.

“Well, the weird thing happening here? Connie and her family are having their car washed and there’s a moving truck following them.”

“WHAT?! CONNIE’S MOVING AWAY?!” The other Gems were instantly on high alert.

“Well, it looks like they have everything all packed up. I talked to Doug and he said he just asked to change locations at his job. Dr. Mahesweran just said they needed a change in scenery and Connie has been silent the entire time. All I know for sure is Connie was pretty depressed when I dropped her off after you got back.”

Steven was only half-listening as he was already racing out to meet Lion, the large feline sunbathing on the patio, heading out to stop his best friend. “Just keep them there as long as you can! I’ll be right there.” He hung up the phone and looked ready to go only for the Gems to follow him outside.

“Steven, what’s this about Connie leaving?” asked Pearl.

“She’s moving out of Beach City and she won’t say why. I need to get over there and stop her!”

“Go. You need to resolve this now,” affirmed Garnet. With that, Lion leapt off the porch and dashed across the sands as fast as he could.

Pearl could not help but fret. “Should we go with him? Maybe we could say something to clear all this up…”

“No, he definitely needs to handle this himself. But while he’s gone, I need something from you.”

“Yes?”

“Tell me exactly what happened on your mission.” Garnet led Pearl back inside to hear the whole story while Amethyst followed, excited about the exploits that led to Steven’s new power.

\---

Steven was dashing past the boardwalk at a breakneck pace. In his haste Steven forgot he could have Lion summon a portal straight to the car wash, but there was also the matter if Lion felt like obeying. It did not matter either way as after several tense minutes, and scaring the living daylights out of some Beach City inhabitants, Steven could spot the Mahesweran car and the moving truck still parked. Greg had held up his end of the bargain by offering Doug a free car waxing, which the latter simply could not refuse.

Connie and her mother were just sitting in the car waiting for Greg to finish his work and idly passing the time by observing the suburban scenery one last time before they left for Keystone. For the past week, Connie’s parents could not get her to open up about her qualms with Steven to the point where when they tried taking away her dinner, she just refused to eat. And now it, along with her anxiety, seemed to be finally getting to her. When Connie saw a pink blip on the horizon, she noticed Steven riding Lion. The young girl panicked and shook her mother’s shoulders.

“Come on, Mom! We have to go!”

“Connie, what’s the rush? We don’t have to be at our new house until the evening and it’s a long drive.”

“Because…” Fortunately her stomach began rumbling due to her skipping breakfast that morning. “I’m starving! If I don’t eat something soon, I might get sick.” She made sure to sound extra pained and unwell for effect. It worked flawlessly as Priyanka’s maternal instincts and doctor’s intuition kicked in simultaneously. She quickly got in the passenger’s seat and yelled for Doug to join her.

“Honey, what’s wrong?”

“We need to get Connie something to eat. All this stress is finally getting to her.”

This left Doug little choice but to get in the driver’s seat and head out to the nearest restaurant. The car pulled out and the truck holding their belongings followed as they left the suburbs to start towards the freeway out of Delmarva. Greg tried in vain to delay them, but they were set and took off just as Steven and Lion charged up behind them. Since they were still in the suburbs, the caravan was moving slowly at first and allowed Steven to move right alongside the car much to the surprise of the driver.

“Hi, Mr. Mahesweran!”

Doug had to clamp the wheel with all his might to avoid driving onto a sidewalk, but before long he and the moving truck were out of the suburbs and pushing the higher speed limit of the two-lane road out of Beach City. Lion was doing his best but eventually the car passed him.

“Come on Lion! We need to keep up!” encouraged Steven, clinging for dear life as the two followed the road towards the highway. The pink feline was trying his hardest, but it seems he had hit his max speed. As they trounced along the busier road, they also had to contend with traffic and several stupefied drivers nearly crashing into them. Steven began dreading the worst, not only for his and his pet’s safety, that Connie would simply leave his life.

The entrance to the highway was only a few miles away. Lion was keeping pace with the moving truck, but the Mahesweran car was gaining speed as it neared the highway. All at once Steven felt a jumble of emotions erupt in him: anguish over ruining his friendship, outrage that Connie could just throw away everything they’ve been through, and passion that no matter what he would NOT let it end like this. The car was changing lanes to get on the highway. Steven had to end this **now.**

“Lion, keep running. I’m about to do something stupid.” Steven stood up on his own two legs and mustered all the strength he had into one massive jump. Before long he was hundreds of feet into the air which did not go unnoticed by the now frantic parents.

“What on Earth are those Gems feeding him?!” shouted an incredulous Priyanka.

Doug was forced to keep his eyes on the road while his wife and daughter stared in shock. Steven was not done yet, though. Now that he was in the air, he began forcing himself to fall at a rapid rate. He angled his body downward and forced himself to rocket towards the asphalt as fast he could. The car just barely made it onto the ramp before Steven crashed down in front of them, flipping just before impact to land feet first, and faced the vehicle head on. Doug slammed on the brakes, but Steven was ready. He held out his hands and caught the skidding car with enough give to prevent a full-on crash, but still left his handprint dents in the grill. Steven was pushed back, but he managed to bring the car to a standstill only a few feet away from where the acceleration lane started. The Maheswerans were all too astonished to say a word. Their terror quickly turned to disbelief as Steven simply walked up to the back door and knocked on the window where Connie was seated. At first she refused to budge and ignored him, only for her mother to have other ideas.

“Connie Prisha Mahesweran, you get out of this car and talk to your friend THIS INSTANT!” she screamed.

Thanks to the dreaded middle-name reflex, Connie obeyed and undid her seat belt. Steven, his face a grimace ever since he stopped the car, opened her door like a gentleman before laying into her.

“What the heck has gotten into you, Connie?! First you act mad at me, but won’t explain why, then you try to skip town without even saying goodbye? What gives?!”

Connie looked her best friend in the eyes with a scowl on her face. “What gives is that you made it obvious you don’t care about me.”

Steven was taken aback by her answer, and all the more mad for it. “What are you talking about? Of course I care about you! What made you think something like that?”

Connie turned away from her as she answered his question with her own. “Do you remember when Pearl first started teaching me sword fighting?” He nodded.

“She instilled this belief in me that your life is more important than mine. I was to be your knight and face any danger that threatened you no matter how great. When I started to believe it, you talked me out of it and told me we would face danger together. As a team, you and me. Guess you didn’t really mean it, after all…”

Steven was startled by how cold and callous Connie was acting, her hands trembling and her voice cutting into him. He quickly put together where her anger was stemming from.

“This is about me giving myself up to the Diamonds…”

“OF COURSE IT IS, YOU IDIOT!” She proceeded to slap him before continuing her tirade.

“You told me months ago that we would face anything _together_! You always said we’d have each other’s back, no matter _what_ happens! When _I_ was willing to sacrifice myself for you, it was wrong and had to be stopped! But when _you_ do it for me, it’s not a problem?!”

“I… I did it protect everyone, not just you…” That only increased Connie’s wrath and got Steven another slap to the face.

“That’s not the point! The point is you _lied_ to me, Steven! You went off and tried to be the hero even though that’s _exactly_ what you talked me out of doing! And you didn’t just scare me. You freaked out the Gems, your father, and the rest of the city! That’s not brave, Steven, that’s being stupid AND a hypocrite!”

Once her outburst was done, Connie felt all the energy drain out of her system and she had to lean against the idle car to remain standing. Steven, despite his face still stinging, moved in closer as his friend began weeping.

“Steven… I thought you were dead. When you got on that ship, it felt like you signed your own death warrant.” She began shuddering as all the heartbreak and horror of that night came out at once.

“For all I knew… they would just fly their ship straight into the sun, or kill you as soon as you landed. And the worst part about it all? All that training I went through? It was all for nothing. My best friend was as good as dead and there was nothing I could do about it…”

Steven fully understood how badly he hurt his best friend. He could not find an adequate response to all her woes, so he settled on simply holding arms and letting her vent. Connie finally broke down completely in his arms as she bawled and screamed as all the pain left her at long last. Her body shook violently and her breathing was erratic, but she returned his hug with her own embrace. The two clung to each other as if they would be ripped apart at any moment. As Connie began to calm down, Steven made sure to assuage any remaining guilt.

“Connie, I’m sorry I abandoned you. I will never throw myself away again. If I ever get abducted again, I’ll be sure to bring you with me…”

At long last, Connie smiled for the first time in days and laughed at his ever-present optimism. “Thank you, Steven. I’ll look forward to the day we get abducted.”

Priyanka and Doug were relieved to hear their daughter happy once again. The latter of the two, however, was also wrapping up a phone call with his employer about his new assignment. He sighed in annoyance but smiled nonetheless.

“I just told my boss to move me back to Beach City. He wasn’t happy about how sudden it is, but some late shifts and a few boxes of donuts ought to clear it all up. Guess we should tell the movers to turn around.”

“In a minute, Doug. Let the two have a moment. Although I still have one question for Steven when they’re done.”

“Really? What’s that?”

The mother’s eyes suddenly bolted open and grabbed her husband by the shoulders. “What are those Gems feeding him?!”

\---

After helping the Maheswerans move everything back into their townhouse, which involved explaining to the mayor where a certain new pothole came from, Steven and Connie returned to the beach house on Lion to show that everything was back to normal. The two walked in the front door just as the sun began to set and found the Crystal Gems ruminating on the couch, still deep in thought over the last mission. All three looked up to see Connie and were all instantly uplifted, Pearl especially so.

“Oh thank goodness you’re still here!” She proceeded to hug long-time student before continuing. “We were all worried that you’d do something you regret. So is there anything you need to tell us?” The young girl nodded.

“I’m really sorry, everyone. I should have told Steven how I felt instead of doing something so reckless. I was just confused and angry about this whole mess.”

“Connie, it’s not your fault,” professed Steven, “This never would have happened if I didn’t do something so outrageous. I never should’ve played the hero and gone to Homeworld.”

All of them were taken aback by his words. “It’s okay, Steven. You were just trying to keep us all safe,” assured Garnet, but the young boy was not done.

“No, it’s not okay! I made you all go crazy over something I never even did! I never thought of how badly you’d all feel if I got hurt or worse…” Pearl had heard enough and hunched down to meet Steven’s gaze.

“Steven, don’t degrade yourself. Yes, what you did was beyond headlong and idiotic, but your intentions still meant well. Of course we were all terrified, but we know you weren’t doing it because you wanted to. You did it because you had little other choice and wanted to stop innocent humans from being dragged into space. We’ve all done ridiculous things for less noble reasons, Steven. You should never hate yourself for wanting to protect people.”

“She’s right, Steven,” Connie pitched in, “I know you meant well, but all I could think about was being angry. When Pearl was teaching me at first, she only thought about doing the right thing. You just to need to think about both.”

Steven’s anguish and remorse faded away as he realized there was a middle ground in all this. Amethyst and Garnet looked on with grins as Steven, Connie and Pearl all came together for one last hug before Garnet made one matter clear.

"Steven, just remember if you ever do something like that again, you will never see a television again.”

“Yes Garnet…” Even with that threat hanging over him, Steven was still in high spirits and everyone seemed to be at peace once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww... finally some real resolution after three chapters all ending on cliffhangers! But do not mistake this for the end for we are just getting started! Stay tuned for next time where I bring Peridot and Lapis Lazuli into this story!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the comments!


	5. One Day Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for everybody's favorite duo of meep-morp making Gems to enter the story! Today we take a look at Peridot and Lapis' reaction to Steven's little trip to Homeworld. You can all probably guess where this will go... or can you?

Another day was going smoothly as Steven was practicing his new ability to summon other weapons. He still was not exactly sure how he summoned that spear to begin with, but he was already showing progress as he pulled out a pink whip that was an exact double of Amethyst’s in everything except color.

“Aw yeah! Nice going, man!” cheered Amethyst, ecstatic that she finally had an opportunity to pass on the delicate art of whipping enemies in the butt.

Pearl, the one conducting this training session, applauded. “Very good, Steven. Now let’s see if you can do Garnet’s gauntlets.”

The lead Gem was quietly beaming at how far along Steven was coming. She decided to go easy on him and only pull out one of her signature armored gloves, thinking both would be a bit much for his first time. The young boy focused on the weapon and imagined forming around his own hand, which was proving to be a very effective mental process, as a pink gauntlet of his own appeared on his right hand.

“Woah! This is cool!” he cheered before falling to the floor thanks to the glove’s weight.

“Looks like you’ll need to start exercising more,” teased Garnet.

Before their lesson could continue, however, the warp pad activated to reveal Peridot beaming in from the barn. It was obvious she was in one of her fits as her brow was sweating and she looked ready to pounce on the first person unlucky enough to set her off (which, fortunately for that person, Peridot has the physical strength of a small house cat so the damage would be minimal.)

“Steven! I need to come to the barn now! Lapis needs to see you!” She tried to lead Steven to the warp pad, but her lack of strength only led to her scrambling as she hopelessly tugged on Steven’s arm.

“Peridot, calm down. What’s the problem with Lapis?” said the boy trying to soothe the miniature Gem’s temper.

“Lapis has been panicking ever since we heard you were taken into space by hostile Homeworld Gems! I suggested we come here to offer our assistance in rescuing you, but she denied to do so and ever since I’ve been desperately trying to keep her from doing something drastic. At this point, nothing I say fazes her so I figure seeing living proof of your health and well-being will eliminate her doubts. Now let’s go!” Steven relented and let himself be led to the warp pad. He waved a hasty goodbye to the Gems as the two beamed off.

Garnet was amused by the whole spectacle. “Not the kind of exercise I had in mind, but it’ll do.”

\---

Peridot and Steven arrived in a literal flash and set about locating the frazzled Lapis Lazuli. Steven took to the ground and began calling Lapis’ name in case she was in the barn or surrounding fields while Peridot scanned the skies for her flying barn-mate. Their efforts were soon met as the airborne Lapis quickly dived out of the air and tackled Steven with a flying hug.

“Oh Steven! Thank goodness you’re okay!” Lapis cheered, “I’ve been going insane this whole time and Peridot kept telling me you would be alright and she was right!”

“Yes, Lapis I’m okay,” Steven chuckled “Now could you put me down? I think we’re halfway back to town with your flying.” Both of them looked down and saw the barn was now miles behind them, currently flying over the forests surrounding their country home thanks to the Gem’s unrestrained joy.

The two quickly made their way back to the barn where Peridot was solaced to see Lapis with a smile on her face for the first time in days. After they touched down, they were also welcomed back by Pumpkin, the excitable gourd dog hopping into Lapis’ arms with a content yelp. Once the group was altogether, the latter spoke a question on her mind.

“So how did you get back to Earth, Steven? What happened to you in space?”

Since there was not much fat to trim with his story, he had to give every dangerous detail of his unwilling trip to Homeworld, his experience with the Diamonds, and his unexpected escape back to Earth. While Peridot was simply intrigued by his tale, Lapis looked positively terrified.

“Steven, you ran away from the Diamonds?!”

He could only nod. “Peridot, we need to leave this planet now.”

“What?!” Peridot and Steven yelled, shocked by how drastic this decision was. It made sense that she would be concerned about this whole affair, but desperate enough to migrate to another world?

“Lapis, I don’t believe that such a course of action is necessary. We have no evidence to suggest the Diamonds are retaliating in any way and Steven seems to be in perfect health. What’s making you so frenzied?” asked Peridot.

“Because I don’t want to get caught up in another war! The Diamonds tried to blow up this planet just because of something that happened thousands of years ago, remember?” Peridot was now cursing herself for ever letting her know about the Cluster.

Steven stepped between the two Gems before a full-blown argument could start. “Now, let’s all calm down. Peridot, she has a point. I honestly wouldn’t put it past them to do something because of me. And Lapis, I can understand you being scared, but are you sure you need to leave Earth? You could just hide somewhere else here.”

She seemed to consider that for a second, but quickly shook her head. “No Steven, I’ve been to Homeworld too. They have unbelievable technology that’s way beyond anything I could have imagined. I would guess they have some way to scan a planet for fugitives and criminals.”

“Unfortunately, she’s right,” admitted Peridot, “And considering the prime threat that ‘Rose Quartz’ is to their society plus the fact that you did not escape through conventional means raising further suspicion, then I would not be surprised if Yellow and Blue Diamond simply backtrack to the planet where they found you and set about trying to locate you here.”

As much as she hated the idea of abandoning the planet she had come to appreciate over several months, Peridot saw no major flaw in her companion’s logic. Impressed she may be, but her emotions were anything but satisfied.

“But Lapis, we’ve spent so much time here! Do you really just want to throw it all away? I mean, just look at the barn!” All three of them gazed at the lovable madhouse that was now crammed full with their artistic endeavors, months of creative passion and manual love decorated every inch inside and out.

Lapis simply shrugged. “So we’ll take it with us. You, me and Pumpkin can move and we’ll bring all our meep-morps along.” To prove her point, she used her powers to gather all the water from their personal pool and create an aquatic lift. After some groaning about leaving its foundation, the barn was aloft on a massive disk of water which the Gem help in the air with no visible effort. Steven was frustrated, but knew he had to put his friend’s feelings first. He decided to try one last point before relenting and letting them go into the great beyond.

“What about the other Crystal Gems?”

“What? What are you talking about?” said Lapis, caught off-guard by his question.

“Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Don’t you think they are going to miss you when you go?”

That was a sore subject for Lapis. While she no longer possessed any animosity towards them for her imprisonment in that cursed mirror, she was never that comfortable around them. Unlike Peridot, who had fully joined their cause, she held no such sentiments and preferred to leave them to their own devices.

“I kind of doubt that, Steven…” she responded morosely.

This gave her friend an idea. “Well why don’t we find out? How about you spend your last days on Earth with them before you go?” suggested Steven.

“Huh?”

“I want you to spend one day with each of the Crystal Gems. If you do that, then you can leave Earth and I won’t try to stop you.”

The frightened Gem rolled the idea around in her head, but quickly found reason for concern. “A day with _each_ of them? That’s three whole days! What if Homeworld gets here by then?!” She started to panic, but Peridot offered a compromise.

“If that amount of time is unacceptable, then why not just the remainder of today. Steven, what time is it?” The young boy, shocked at how calm the vehement Gem was acting. He pulled out his phone and showed the time was 2:57 PM.

“According to your measure of time, the end of a day on this planet is defined by the time Earth’s satellite reaches its apogee during it’s the time of rotation as this hemisphere faces away from the sun…” She stopped upon seeing Steven and Lapis tilt their heads in unison.

“Also known as midnight…” she grumbled. The two were quickly caught up and Peridot began pacing as she continued.

“At this time, that means there is just over nine hours remaining before the end of the day. Therefore, you will have three hours to spend with each Gem before you depart. Now I may not be an expert on social interactions, but I theorize that it is feasible to establish a cursory bond with someone in that time limit.”

She and Steven looked on as Lapis weighed the options in her mind. On the one hand, a day with those three was not an easy feat in her eyes. She never felt fully comfortable around them and she would be burning time that could be used getting out of the Diamonds’ radar. On the other hand, she realized that Steven could be seriously hurt if she did not take on his proposal. Plus, she had become more open to new experiences…

“Alright. I’ll do it.” Steven cheered hearing this and immediately led her along to the warp pad to begin her special bonding time. This left Peridot alone with the barn feeling mixed emotions. She was grateful Lapis could see reason with this issue and felt this would be a beneficial exercise for her. It also gave her ample time to work out that sinking feeling in her head. After all, she never agreed to leave Earth. At least now she had nine hours to create diagrams of all the pros and cons with Pumpkin to keep her company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interested? Stay tuned to see how Lapis Lazuli spends her last day on Earth with each of the Crystal Gems. Until the next update!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any comments or questions below.


	6. 3 to 6 - Amethyst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is ready for some Gem bonding? First up for Lapis' last day on Earth is Amethyst who takes the shy newcomer into her private cave for three hours. Oh the possibilities... (Good thing this is only rated T or else that could be misinterpreted!)

Steven and Lapis warped in while the Crystal Gems were conversing in the living room, waiting for the young boy’s return so they could begin his new weapon training. That plan quickly went out the window upon seeing Lapis Lazuli, who seemed to be forcing herself to make eye contact with the others. 

“Hey guys!” Steven greeted, “Lapis here is going to spend some time with each of you before she leaves.”

“Leaves? What, is she gonna fly into space again?” joked Amethyst. She started laughing at her own joke only to see Lapis looked dead serious.

“Lapis, why are you fleeing Earth?” asked Pearl. She tried to walk towards her for support, but the aquatic Gem just backed away.

“Because I heard about what happened to Steven on Homeworld. I’m scared, no, I’m terrified that the Diamonds are going to come here to find him. I want to get away from another war before it breaks out… before I…” She could not bring herself to continue so Steven took over while holding her hand.

“I wanted her to spend a little bit of time with each of you before she goes. So, she’s agreed to spend three hours with each of you. She’s taking off at midnight tonight. I promised if she did this, I wouldn’t stop her from going too.”

Garnet was especially shocked to hear this. To think that Steven was putting someone so far ahead of himself was selfless, but also downright astonishing. He proceeded to look at his phone and realized that three PM was only seconds away. 

“Alright, Lapis, you’re time begins now. Pick who you want to bond with first.” 

She glanced at all three of them with a wary look, as if they would pull something if she looked away. She has barely spoken to Garnet, had practically no exposure to Pearl, but did remember that one time Amethyst came to the barn when she was depressed. She figured if she was going to start anywhere, go with the one she has some basic connection with. 

“I’ll start with Amethyst,” she grumbled. 

The purple Gem just took the entire deal in stride and walked up to her while Steven ushered Garnet and Pearl outside to pass the time until it was their turn. At first the two simply stood in the otherwise empty house staring at each other, neither one knowing where to start. After what could be described by those involved as eternity, Amethyst decided to just head into her room and beckoned Lapis to follow. 

“You want to see all my junk?” asked Amethyst casually. 

“Uh, sure.” 

Conversation has never been Lapis’ forte. Even still, the two proceeded to the proper temple door which opened up in a gooey purple rift revealing the near-endless expanse of knickknacks and trinkets that made up Amethyst’s quarters. Lapis was taken aback by disarray and was surprised by the sheer breadth of the junk, piles upon piles spreading on with some vague theme in mind. 

Amethyst, looking right at home, just proceeded forward. “Bet ya Peri would have a fit if she saw this place!” she kidded. 

“Actually, our place kind of looks like this. We have materials and stuff all over. Only the crops are really organized.”

“Huh, I always thought of her as a neat freak like Pearl. She always goes on and on about how I need to straighten up this place.”

The two just walked on through the massive cave with Amethyst acting as an informal tour guide describing some of her favorite tchotchkes. As they traveled further, Lapis was continuously kept silent by the sheer quantity of this Gem’s hoard. Eventually, her mind started wandering when Amethyst was telling an anecdote about her acquiring a rusty bayonet and her artistic sensibilities starting kicking in. She headed over to one pile consisting of various triangular objects made of everything from aged stone to acrylic plastic and started piecing them together into a pattern. When Amethyst looked over to see her guest lost interest in her story and was tinkering with her belongings, her irritation quickly faded when she saw Lapis calmly rearranging the pieces with a smile. 

When she noticed Amethyst was staring at her, Lapis regained her subdued composure. “Oh, sorry. I should have asked before moving your stuff.”

“Nah, it’s cool. At least you aren’t trying to bring order in here. It’s nice seeing you chill out for once.”

Lapis blushed at the compliment and continued at her work. Amethyst soon got up and started bringing her any piece she could think of and making suggestions on what to create next. The minutes began to blur by as the two Gems laughed and let their combined creativity explode, constantly disassembling and reshuffling each meep-morp with no real rhyme or reason. When Lapis accidentally brought up her time as Steven’s beach-summer-fun buddy and their pranking the town mayor, Amethyst could barely contain herself.

“So, wait, let me get this straight,” she laughed, “You, of all Gems, kept making fart noises in Dewey’s speech?”

“Heh, yeah. I just did it because Steven thought it was funny…”

“That is awesome! I never would have taken you for a prankster! Man, if we had more time, there are SO many things I could teach you!” 

“Like what?”

“Oh man, wait until you get a load of prank phone calls! Basically you call someone on their phone, trick them into saying something dumb, then laugh your butt off when the other guy wises up. It. Is. Hilarious!”

The Gem started rolling the idea around in her head, but suddenly started scowling. “This isn’t your way of convincing me to stay, are you? Because I am going.”

“What, no! I just thought it would be funny. If you want to fly into space to get away from something you don’t want to see, that’s fine. Me and the others are used to fighting, you aren’t. It makes sense.”

“Oh. Okay then.” Lapis was sure that the others were going to try and talk her out of her decision, but never would have guessed they would sympathize with her. They may not be enemies at this point, make no mistake, but she was not sure how to take such a frank statement. Should she be touched they were letting her make up her mind, or was this a sign they did not want her around? Rather than waste precious time dwelling on an uncomfortable subject, the aqua Gem decided to just drop the topic and resumed the duo’s decorative pastime. Before long the clock was nearing six and Amethyst led her guest back out to the temple door where Garnet, Pearl and Steven were occupying themselves in Steven’s room by watching television. 

“Hello, you two. How did your time together go?” asked Pearl.

“It was… alright, actually. Thanks for showing me your stuff, Amethyst,” responded Lapis.

“No sweat. Good luck building meep-morps out of moon rocks!”

Lapis could not help but grin as Amethyst ran to the kitchen to make popcorn for the family. As the tasty treat was being microwaved, Lapis made up her mind about whose company to be in.

“Pearl, I choose you next.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no snappy remarks. Next time we'll have Pearl and Lapis spend some time together. Yay...  
> Thank you all so much or reading! I've almost as many hits on this in a month as my last fic did in over a year! Feel free to leave questions or suggestions below!


	7. 6 to 9 - Pearl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So how does someone like Pearl plan to kill a few hours with a new Gem? A history lesson, of course!  
> On another note, I can't believe this has over 1,000 hits! Words cannot express my appreciation to all you readers out there!

The cordial Gem walked downstairs and moved to the warp pad, clearly intending for their activity to take in a faraway location. The sun was making its way west outside, but the light was still beaming with only a few clouds offering shade. Lapis was already weighing options on what she could have in mind.

“Lapis, I would like to take this time and show you something. My only concern is how fast you can fly.”

That instantly through her for a loop for umpteenth time today. “I’d say pretty fast. Considering I flew all the way from here to Homeworld by myself, we could easily reach anywhere here in time. Where do you have in mind?”

“A place that is very precious to me. Normally it is a long hike away from where we’ll be warping to, but depending on your speed we can make it with time to spare.” Lapis noted how Pearl appeared jittery already, but she could not distinguish if it was from doubt or cheer. Either way, they were wasting time standing around. Seconds later they were in an earthen canyon surrounded on both sides by massive cliffs. Considering the height, Lapis quickly understood why flight would make this trip less strenuous.

“Alright, let’s go.”

She felt awkward carrying a passenger like her, but also knew it could be tricky following her from the ground. Lapis took to the sky and out of the crevasse and followed Pearl’s directions over miles and miles of barren ground. What would take three hours for Pearl on foot flew by in five minutes and soon reached another steep wall. She was stupefied at the pace Lapis was making, who did not even flinch as she banked straight upwards and began flying parallel to the rock face. She quickly spotted the entry to the cave Pearl was searching for and landed. Once inside she could tell it was no ordinary cavern, it somehow remained fully lit despite the waning sunlight and the floor was perfectly smooth. Pearl dismounted and led the way inside until the two came across a massive circular stage in the cave’s center. It glowed with light as soon as their feet touched the surface, taking Lapis by surprise.

“What is this place? How do you know about it?” she asked as she stood bewildered by her surroundings.

“This was a secret armory for Rose Quartz, it’s been here for thousands of years. Rose herself told me about it. I used to think I was the only one who knew, actually.”

Pearl’s somewhat stiff demeanor became more so. Her posture was impeccable as she walked to the center of the stage where a single square pedestal bearing the same pattern as Steven’s shield stood. Her voice held the unmistakable wonder that came when remembering a fond time in the past mixed with a tinge of sadness. She placed her hand on the pedestal and suddenly a ring of armors from different time periods sprung into existence. Lapis was astounded and tried her hardest to take all of them in at once.

“I wanted to show you something related to the Crystal Gems, since it seems you don’t know much about us. What do you think so far?”

The water Gem was not sure what to think at this point. The part of her brain that was not absorbing every detail of the armor collection was conflicted. Sure, she knew who Rose Quartz was, but she only recognized the name. At one point she might have hated Rose, being the leader of the group responsible for her imprisonment after all, but now she had no idea. She still had to admit the collection was amazing, and figured Pearl was taking a real risk showing her something so close to her heart.

“This is… incredible. How did she get all of these?”

“Each one of these has a story behind them, but you should know Rose’s collection did not just include armor.”

As if on command, the armor vanished and was replaced by an equally eclectic line of swords of all shapes and sizes. A line of axes then appeared opposite to the blades, further raising Lapis’ curiosity. While she was gawking at every minor detail, Pearl looked on all of them with a small smile.

“I’m glad you find this all so entertaining. I wanted to show you a bit of about our history before you depart. Do you have anything you wanted to ask me?”

With her imagination in overdrive, Lapis happily obliged. “Yes, I do! How did all this start? Why did Rose do all of this? Where… are the rest of you? I know there had to be more than just you three.”

Pearl knelt beside the glowing pedestal and put all the melee weapons away with a movement of her hand. She invited Lapis to join her on the ground and breathed in as she collected her thoughts before beginning a lengthy lesson on the history of the Crystal Gems.

“Well, to answer your first question, it all started thousands of years ago when Pink Diamond decided to colonize Earth. Of course, this meant making the original Kindergarten to create her subordinates and among them was Rose Quartz. At first Rose was just like her fellow Gems under Pink Diamond, working to prepare a colony until she began to notice the world around their operation…”

Pearl never wavered despite the glut of information she was giving. She went on to describe Rose trying in vain to reason with her diamond, forming an underground rebellion with those also dissatisfied with the hierarchy of Homeworld, and how she came to be the most feared Gem ever created. She also mentioned how she, a pearl abandoned by her original owner, came into the fray and learned all she could under Rose’s empowerment and compassion. Lapis hung onto every word and became stupefied at how much toil and triumph went into Pearl’s story. She may have been familiar with war, but speaking to a longtime veteran put the entire event into perspective. Pearl only stopped when Lapis asked the occasional question or asked for clarification and by the end of the tale, their time was almost over. The moon was now climbing the sky above the cave but all the two were concerned about about was the saga of Rose Quartz. When Pearl finally finished, she realized there was one last piece of business she had to take care of with the aquatic Gem.

“Lapis, I’m sorry for what happened to you.”

“What? Why are you…” she started, clearly confused, but Pearl motioned to let her finish.

“I may not be the one responsible for you being in that mirror for so long, but I wish it did not take thousands of years to set you free. You were innocent the whole time and I’m sorry if one of my old friends hurt you. You never deserved any of this. I figured you would like a formal apology after all this time.”

Lapis was taken aback by her frankness, but greatly appreciated the gesture. “Thanks Pearl. I guess I didn’t help matters by assuming you were all bad. Maybe I could have spoken up earlier and then things would have turned out differently.”

“Perhaps,” Pearl shrugged as the pair walked back towards the entrance, “But as much as I fondly remember the past  I prefer focusing on the present.” They both smiled at that thought as Lapis once again took to the sky with a passenger on her back. As they flew, a question came to Pearl as she was being flown back home.

“Lapis, by any chance do you know who originally put you in there?”

Lapis slowed down as she tried to recall the painful memories. “No. I was poofed by some Gem and then a Homeworld soldier put me in there. I actually don’t remember much before I came to Earth… All I know is that the Gem who poofed me was big, purple and had really weird multicolored hair.”

The rest of their nighttime flight was in silence as Pearl mulled over the possibilities in her mind. She knew someone who matched the description, but could not decide if she would do something so needlessly violent. Then again…

“Pearl, are you alright? We’re here.”

The slender Gem snapped back to reality and realized they were on the canyon warp pad once again.

“Oh, sorry. I was just lost in thought. Let’s go back.

” So they did and returned to the beach house as nine o’clock was closing in fast. Steven was pleased to see the two.

“Hey guys! Garnet’s waiting outside for you, Lapis.”

Before her guest walked off, Pearl shook her hand and wished her a fond farewell. “Well, I hope you enjoyed our little trip. Have a safe journey, Lapis Lazuli.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And by process of elimination, Garnet is the last to get her bonding time with Lapis. But what happens when midnight comes?  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or suggestions below!


	8. 9 to 12 - Garnet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the conclusion to our nine hours of Crystal Gem bonding with everyone's favorite psychic, square-afro toting Gem. Enjoy!

Lapis was surprised how accepting all of them were with her decision, but she appreciated the hospitality. It did, however, have the unfortunate side effect of making her second guess herself. If they were this friendly to her…

_“No! I’m going and that’s final!”_ she yelled to herself. Trying to look nonchalant, she walked outside for her final bonding session of the evening, but not before glancing at the massive portrait of Rose above the doorway. After admiring the artwork, she walked onto the porch where Garnet was calmly admiring the night sky in one of the patio chairs.

“Good evening, Lapis. Take a seat.” She greeted and gestured to the chair next to her. Lapis obliged and wondered what the fusion had in store for her. She followed Garnet’s gaze up to the night sky and took in the serene sight of stars and the waxing gibbous moon above the gently lapping waves.

“So, what exactly are we doing?” asked Lapis after several minutes of scenery watching in relative silence.

“This, unless you’d rather do something else,” replied Garnet. Lapis merely shrugged and went back to stargazing. She had to admit that after six hours of almost constant excitement, it felt very soothing to simply stop and smell the roses one last time. As time kept passing, though, she felt the desire to speak her mind.

“Garnet… you’re the one in charge right?”

“Yes.”

“How do you do it? Doesn’t it bother you having so much on your shoulders?”

Garnet chuckled at the thought. “Sometimes it gets to be too much. I must admit there have been times I’ve fallen apart, but I have to look ahead and realize that the stress will pass. Although it does help to be able to do that literally…”

“Wait, what? You mean you can see the future?!” This caught both Gems by surprise.

“Huh… I suppose I never did tell you that. Yes, Lapis, I have an ability called future vision which lets me see possible outcomes to various problems.”

“That’s fantastic! You can see if Homeworld is coming or not! Are they coming soon? Will they be looking for me? Do you see me staying or going? I just have to know now!” exclaimed Lapis, eager to have some clarity in her conflict, but Garnet just stood there deciding how to let her down gently.

“Lapis, it doesn’t work that way. I can’t see everything and just because something can happen does not mean it will happen. Besides, knowing the future isn’t always a blessing.” Garnet became uncomfortably quiet on that last line, almost as if she was talking more to herself than her guest.

Said guest was not taking the news well. “Oh, okay then. I guess that makes sense.” Lapis tried to turn away, but then Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back around.

“I know that isn’t what you wanted to hear, but let me tell you what I told Steven when he learned about it. You see, he started asking me about every possible way something could go wrong. He became so terrified something was going to happen to him that he couldn’t live anymore. And even worse, I knew this could happen if I told him the truth. But that’s when I told him I could see many things that can hurt him and I never should have let one of them be me. There are millions of possibilities for the future, but it’s up to you to decide which one becomes reality. Lapis, you choose your own future.”

This brightened Lapis’ mood, especially that last line about choosing her own future. Although that did raise doubt in her mind about her impending departure, she let it stew in her mind while she and Garnet observed the stars in peace. Occasionally the fusion would point out a constellation in the distance, but the remaining hours passed in peace. It was not long before the half moon was climbing to the highest point, signaling it was time to say goodbye. With their last minute upon them, Garnet and Lapis simply stood up and shook hands without saying a word to each other though their respective smiles showed them leaving on good terms. They walked back inside surprised to find Steven fighting to keep himself awake on his bed.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” He had to repress a massive yawn, but refused to sleep until everything was said and done.

“It’s fine Steven. I really want to thank you for this whole idea.”

“No problem, buddy. Is it alright if I see you off, though?”

The water Gem nodded and the two walked to the warp pad while Garnet went to get Pearl and Amethyst to see their fellow Gem off as well. When they returned to the barn, Peridot was found inside with several pages of paper scattered around her feet. Pumpkin was merely watching as the mechanical Gem tried every logical notion to sort out her feelings but very few met with any success. It seems even her intellect was no match for the befuddling power of pathos.

“Peridot, are you doing something important?” asked Lapis.

“Lapis! I was just… preparing a proper inventory to make sure we have all the essentials before a prolonged period of space travel. Since we have no set destination in mind and though we do not need as many supplies, I would like to be certain none of our possessions are left behind. For one thing, I’ve made sure we have our entire cassette collection before we…”

“Peri, stop right there. I’ve had a really great day with the Crystal Gems and…” she interjected before being interrupted by the Crystal Gems themselves arriving via warp stream.

“Good thing your still here. We wanted to make sure we saw you leave,” said Garnet.

“I mean, how many times do you get to see a barn blast off into space by a water pad? You can’t make this stuff up!” laughed Amethyst.

“We feel it’s only proper given how open we’ve all been with you today. So, do you need help preparing your belongings for take-off? I happen to know several procedures for this sort of operations thanks to my aeronautical research,” said Pearl.

Lapis just stared at all three of them in shock. “You’re all willing to do this after a few hours with me? We had barely spoken to each other before now.”

“Don’t be surprised Lapis. We’re your friends, of course we’d want to make sure everything you want goes well!” said Steven. That final bit edged whatever debate was left in her mind. The flighty Gem’s mind was finally made up.

“You know, with all of you here so willing to give me a chance, I should be willing to do the same. Maybe I should sta-“

She never got to finish that sentence. A harsh yellow light broke through the peaceful air and beamed down on all six of them. Pumpkin ran to the barn in fear and quivered under the nearest crevice. All of them looked up and saw the two roaming eyes looming above them, having been thrown off by the interruption by their target entering the warp stream. Now they had arrived and sighted Rose Quartz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN-DUN-DUN!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions and comments below!


	9. Raising the Stakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it weird to give someone else a present on your own birthday? Oh well, here's the next chapter! Payoff for the cliffhanger at long last!
> 
> Aside from that, I can't believe this has gotten over 1,600 hits, 60+ kudos and 29 subscribers in just two months! My thanks to all my fellow fans out there!

Time seemed to stop for the Crystal Gems under the roaming eyes. The two ships surrounded the group on both sides, airborne and gazing down on the six. While most of the group was ready for a fight, Lapis was struggling just to remain calm. This was part of her worst fears coming to pass right in front of her. The tension was finally broken when a high-pitched voice began barking from one of the eyes, although it sounded noticeably forced.

“Attention Rose Quartz! We have been directly ordered by Homeworld to bring you into custody for your transgressions against the Diamonds! Surrender peacefully or you and your comrades will be forced to cooperate.” All of the Gems recognized the voice a ruby, but something felt noticeably off about her voice.

“Are… are you reading from some kind of script?” asked Peridot.

“...That’s…classified,” the ruby responded after a VERY uncomfortable pause. It is a shame that they did not get to see said ruby hurriedly scrolling through dozens of text prompts that Homeworld enforces them to use in these high-level missions. It may have even made Lapis smile in the midst of being terrified for her very existence.

Steven stepped forward, feeling rather responsible for this meeting. “I’ve promised these Gems I’m not leaving Earth again. So you can just take your ships off this planet now!”

After a few more seconds of scrolling, the captain of the other ship took over in a much more natural tone. “Very well, then. Since you have denied your one peaceful opportunity to cooperate, we will have to use force!” At least this one did not sound she was reading from a prompt…

The invading rubies quickly followed through on their threat as the ships shut the blinding light off, landed, and each dispensed six eager looking rubies. Though each of them was shorter than Steven, all twelve of them had a murderous gleam in their vision spheres aimed right at the young boy. They summoned their respective weapons of knives, gauntlets, and one even wearing a set of brass knuckles on both of her hands. The main Crystal Gems all brought out their respective weapons, Steven sticking with his usual shield (just because he could summon the other weapons did not mean he could properly use them) and Peridot stood her ground while Lapis was paralyzed with fear. The only thing stopping her from flying away at this moment was her inability to feel anything but numbing terror on every inch of her body.

The rubies tried to circle them, but Steven just bolted through them with his shield to break their formation. With them distracted, the other Gems sans Lapis took the opportunity and advanced, each taking multiple of the diminutive adversaries. Peridot had to contend with two at once, but quickly managed to pull a several metal tools from the barn floor with her metal powers.

“Alright, you little clods,” she exclaimed, levitating half a dozen pieces of hardware, “Which one of you wants to get hammered?” It is only a shame Peridot did not know enough of Earth slang to realize her choice of words.

The rubies scoffed at first, but quickly regretted making light of this threat as the tools bombarded them. Every time the tiny troops tried to smack the pieces into oblivion with their gauntlets, Peridot shifted them around to prepare another attack. She had managed to create a literal swarm of tools and was keeping the two preoccupied. Lapis was definitely impressed, at least as much as she could be given her emotional turmoil, but still took the opportunity to run to the safety of the barn while the battle spread around the countryside.

Steven was being pursued by a pair of rubies. Unlike that behemoth from the arctic, he knew tripping these two up would be a taller order. His speed may have been great, but his stamina and nerves were not holding out. He then turned on a dime and flung his shield directly at his pursuers, but they both ducked underneath it. Right as the two charged at his, knives at the ready, he conjured a bubble shield causing the duo to rebound. With them stopped in their tracks Steven stood tall, dispersed the protective sphere around him, and brought forth a new shield, ready to stand his ground since talking was clearly out of the question.

Each of the main Crystal Gems had three of the buggers to contend with, but all of them found ways to handle being outnumbered. Pearl was using her superior agility and flexibility to make hitting her a fruitless exercise, only made worse by the rubies’ remarkably short temper. Amethyst was literally running circles around them with her spin dash and tying them up with her whip. In spite of the obvious danger in front of her, she was still smiling at seeing the little nuisances getting flung into each other like bowling pins and screaming for her to stand down. As if. Garnet, naturally, was owning her confrontation with her future vision. She knew every strike the rubies would make before they could move, and silently countered every maneuver they pulled. She even saw the three trying to fuse together to boost their odds, but Garnet simply charged right at their formation sending the trio flying in different directions.

\---

As the chaos reigned outside the barn, Lapis Lazuli was holding a quivering Pumpkin, both terrified by all the commotion and the prospect of a small Homeworld invasion. The Gem inside was in a mix between terror that her worst fear was playing out right before her eyes and kicking herself for wasting so much time here when she could have been flying away from this oncoming madness.

 _“Why did I agree to spend so much time here?! I should have flown away when I had the chance!”_ She could only scold herself and watch the scattered brawls go on in the dead of night, praying that the Homeworld Gems would retreat or just surrender though the latter felt as likely to her as Steven committing arson for laughs. She wished there was some way she could help, but she could barely move an inch. She found herself looking at the floor, where she spotted one of Peridot’s papers she worked on while she was gone…

\---

Minutes passed as the rubies relentlessly fought the assembled Crystal Gems, all growing more desperate since their superior numbers were failing to the rebels’ tactics and unorthodox fighting methods. Their tenacity was beginning to prevail, however, as they started using pattern recognition to gain an advantage over their opponents. Rubies may have highly underdeveloped intelligence, but they were all soldiers designed with the ability to whittle down opponents.

Steven, already drowsy from how late it was, was quickly losing steam as the two rubies continued to attack him. His mostly defensive style may have surprised them at first, but they were now pushing down on him with constant attacks and breaking through his guard. The adrenaline of the fight could only carry him so far and finally his defenses fell and one of the Gems landed a brutal hit to his face leaving him on the ground with a sore jaw.

“Steven!” yelled Garnet, briefly forgetting her opponents. Unfortunately, this gave the rubies enough time to pile on to each other and fuse into a singular Gem that stood ten feet tall with three gems adorning her body. Garnet had no choice but to face the bigger threat and hope Steven could catch a second wind or someone could lend him a hand. Pearl and Amethyst were also distraught seeing their friend fall and rushed over letting their combatants follow. Soon a total of seven rubies surrounded the two desperate Gems, each of them fired up to defend Steven no matter what.

Peridot was actually still on top of her opponents, but was showing notable strain from using her abilities for a prolonged period of time. She kept inventing new patterns to throw off her foes, grabbing new tools to throw into the mix and throwing the occasional cutting remark to keep her foes too angry to develop a plan. She was counting on the other Gems intervening once they finished their respective brawls, but analyzing the circle of Gems on one side of her and Garnet squaring off against a grunt larger than her on the other put the situation into her perspective. With no backup coming anytime soon, Peridot needed to come up with a new plan. This would have to wait, however, since in the midst of her brainstorming the two finally knocked away her screwdrivers and hammers and socked her in the face at the same time.

“OW! My vision spheres!” she cried, realizing her plan would now involve a lot more direct combat which has never been her strong suit.

“You may have some new abilities because of this planet, but that won’t save you or the other rebels! Now you can come quietly or we’ll force you!”

The green scientist Gem knew she would never survive back on Homeworld as a full-blown traitor and affiliate to the only group to ever defy the Diamonds. So that left her with only one option; get on all fours and run away in the opposite direction while screaming at the top of her metaphorical lungs.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” she screamed as she scampered for her life, the two rubies completely unsure of what to make of her scene.

“Should we… chase after her? She stopped attacking us after all,” asked one of the rubies.

“Nah, we’re here for Rose Quartz, remember?” reminded her comrade, “Let’s go help the others and then we’ll get the peridot.”

As the red menaces joined their allies in the fray against the other rebels, Peridot ran into the barn only to bump right into an irate Lapis, who was somehow managing to look ready to cower in a corner and slap someone senseless at the same time.

“Peridot, what is this?!” she asked, holding up a paper her barn-mate had written during her time away. “It is the first page of a personal account of my emotions regarding your plan to evacuate Earth. I compiled it along with several essays detailing possible locations for refuge unlikely to be on Homeworld’s radar, several charts and diagrams I made beforehand to fully determine my sentiments to make an informed decision, and a handful of crossword puzzles which I did to relieve stress. Why are you bringing this up now?!” she asked, clearly wondering where Lapis’ priorities were.

“I read through this account and the gist of the thing is you’re not leaving?! When were you going to mention this?”

“How about AFTER we’re not being invaded by a gang of Homeworld grunts?!” she yelled, disbelieving how this was coming up NOW of all times.

The aquatic Gem stared at the fight ahead. Despite being outnumbered twelve to four, the Crystal Gems were still holding their own. Steven had even caught his second wind and was acting as crowd control with his shield.

“The other Gems have it handled, but I need to know this. Are you staying on Earth or not?”

Peridot saw the answer Lapis wanted in her expression, she desperately did not want to be alone in space with no one but Pumpkin for company. As she remembered the battle behind her, however, she could not bring herself to be dishonest.

“Lapis, I’ve officially been a Crystal Gem for months now. I cannot just abandon the cause I’ve signed up for after all this time. This is my home and if Homeworld wants to create problems here, then it is my responsibility to stop them. I am sorry for this, Lapis Lazuli, but I refuse to go with you.”

Heartbroken could not even describe how Lapis felt hearing those last words. Here she was thinking she at least had one Gem behind her. She knew Steven and the others would stay, this was their home for years now, but she thought Peridot was in the same position as her; a refugee looking to lay low in case Homeworld came around. It seems all this time had changed her, however, and now Lapis was the only one not willing to engage in such an uphill battle.

Without another word Lapis took out her wings and soared into the air, summoning all the water from the lake to surround and lift the barn behind her. She shut her eyes, hoping to drown out the fight still dragging on beneath her and to avoid looking back. Instead it only made it easier for her to hear Peridot, screaming as loud as possible from dozens of feet below her.

“Fine! Just go then! If you’re so willing to abandon everyone who cares about you then leave! I spent hundreds of years on Homeworld, Lapis! I know this isn’t an easy conflict to win! For all I know it may be impossible, but my sentiments are with Earth for however long I can keep this world safe from them!”

Lapis hovered in midair, the barn trailing a few feet below her on a floating ring of water. The fighting on the ground had ceased as they noticed the now airborne barn. Even the rubies stood still, utterly stupefied by what was going on. The flying Gem tightened her fists as all the anxiety in her came to the surface. “I already told you I don’t want to get caught in another war!” she screamed, water now pouring from her eyes. “Every time something like this comes along, I just get used for someone else’s benefit! I’m tired of all the chaos! You think I’m happy doing this?! I love this planet, even after all the pain I’ve been through! But I hate being the victim even more… That’s all I’ve been for so long.”

Steven wanted to leap into the air to comfort his ailing friend. Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl all had words stuck in their throats, all of them wanting to say something, anything, to calm her down. Peridot, however, had her own retort for Lapis.

“THAT IS THE DUMBEST REASONING YOU COULD POSSIBLY HAVE, YOU CLOD! You honestly think you’re helpless?! Is that some kind of joke, because if so your humor is beyond comprehension! I’m not sure if you are aware of your own abilities because by all accounts you are FAR more dangerous than almost anything Homeworld can throw at you! You possess the ability to control any and all water, which makes up _the majority of this entire world_! You created a tower stretching farther than the atmosphere with almost no effort! You restrained an immensely powerful fusion by yourself and kept it contained for months! You’re holding several tons in the air _right now_ without even trying! How STUPID can you possibly be in this situation? Lapis, you shouldn’t be scared of Homeworld. _Homeworld_ should be scared of _you_!”

Lapis Lazuli’s mouth could have reached the ground had her form physically allowed it. Her entire body went slack, and her wings flapping were the only sign she had not lost consciousness. Peridot’s scolding words sunk into her brain and the fearful haze crowding her thoughts began to clear, but the green firebrand was not done.

“Let me make one matter clear. I understand your previous incapacitations were all caused by circumstances outside your control. From what I’ve heard, you were ambushed by an overzealous Crystal Gem and then put in the mirror. When you protested your case on Homeworld, no one listened to your pleas out of stubbornness. When you first returned to Homeworld, you were brought along as an informant against your will. With the entire Malachite incident, you chose to act as you did out of a selfless desire to stop Jasper and only broke after months of unrelenting mental anguish. But now is a different set of circumstances. In those instances it was someone else making you the victim. Here it is squarely you, Lapis. I in no way blame you for the past, Lapis. That would be so illogical that the only proper reaction to that theory would be to repeatedly slam my head into the nearest hard surface until that pain was greater than that stupefying idiocy on display. I will blame you for this one, however. Now you are assuming you are the victim when, as you are proving right now, you have little reason to fear Homeworld could harm you. So, are you going to force yourself into the same role you claim to despise so much? Or are you going to change your position to something more your liking?” Peridot crossed her arms and stared above her, waiting for the decision.

The Crystal Gems and the Homeworld rubies were all silent under the moonlight and the growing shadow of the lifted barn as the flying Lapis was lost in thought. The more Peridot’s words sunk into her system, the harder it was to feel anything other than her own turmoil. The fear of Homeworld’s wrath was still yelling at her to leave only now it was met by protests that demanded her to take action. After everything she had been through today, all the emotional growth and regression that the past several hours had delivered, Lapis Lazuli made her final decision. She raised her hands, signaling the barn to fly above her. Everyone’s eyes were glued as she stayed motionless, eyes closed and arms outstretched. Her face was the picture of stoicism, devoid of all emotion. Then she flung her arms towards the ground and-

*CRASH!* The barn and the watery platform supporting it slammed straight into the rubies’ ships, destroying them under a mountain of assembled junk and several thousand gallons of liquid. The entire assembly was floored, jaws reaching for the dirt and hands slack. The only one unaffected by the air of bafflement was Peridot, who bore her typical smug smile that followed when her theories proved correct.

With their transportation and only means of contacting reinforcements gone, the assembled rubies felt all the fire fade. They were completely stranded here. At the very least there were no more protocol to study as one of the rubies, one of the pilots of the now demolished vessels, acted in a rather undignified manner.

“EVERYONE RUN AWAY!” The circle of rubies broke apart in a frenzy, forgetting their weapons and fearing that the same Gem was going to pulverize them too. The Crystal Gems, after recovering from the shock, used their panic to their advantage and quickly began pursuing them. Each of them darted off, poofing their frenetic opponents with ease as they made a hasty getaway. Some may call it dishonorable to attack an opponent who laid down their weapons, but the group was not going to press their chances considering what happened the last time a group of these undersized soldiers were left to their own devices. One by one the rubies were shield-bashed, speared, whipped or punched back into their respective gems and bubbled by one of the four, who were all relieved that this nighttime skirmish was finally over.

Lapis Lazuli, despite being the hero of the hour, was still flying with a disoriented expression as if even she was not aware of her actions. She slowly descended back to Earth, her expression never changing as what she had done sunk in. The other Gems, however, were kind enough to remind her.

“Lapis, that was incredible! You saved us!” cheered Steven, holding a pair of pink bubbles containing rubies.

“I must say, that was rather unorthodox but highly effective. With no way to reach Homeworld, they completely panicked. We greatly appreciate the help,” added Pearl, holding three rubies in translucent white orbs.

Amethyst and Garnet both beamed at her, each holding three rubies of their own. Peridot merely walked over to her companion, noticing the rather distant expression she had, and patted her on the back regardless.

“Lapis, do you know what this means?”

“…It means I have to wear a star somewhere, right?”

The others all laughed at her response, but also realized that the Gem was going to need some time to adapt to this change. As for Lapis herself, she was one part giddy to have assisted all the Gems she had come to appreciate this day and anxious that now Homeworld really would put a target on her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to know the best part of all this? I wrote this chapter a few weeks before "Reunited" came out! I reacted to seeing this made canon (sort of, I don't dare spoil the specifics) in the most sensible fashion of screaming at the top of my lungs in glee. Until next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below!


	10. Settling In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Lapis is apparently sticking around, we finally have some payoff from the beginning of the story, and there's no more alien invasions... Now what?

As the six Crystal Gems all stared at the mass of wreckage that was two roaming eyes and the barn, all of them were glad peace was restored for the moment. All of them, especially Lapis, felt a grim warning that the forces of Homeworld were not done here. Even Steven, somehow still standing despite his body begging for sleep, could tell this was far from a conclusive ending. At that moment, however, he was also overjoyed by another revelation.

“Lapis is staying on Earth!” he cheered, hugging the nervous Gem’s legs with the purest expression of glee all over his face.

She showed him a smile, but the hesitation was apparent in her eyes. She could still fly away if she wanted to, just take off without any physical baggage to weigh her down. Emotional baggage, however, was keeping her planted for the moment.

“Well, if that is the case I would like to present a new conundrum in light of these events,” said Peridot, “While Lapis here has successfully stranded the rubies and prevented us from being captured, she has created a problem here due to her method of destroying their transport.”

All of them turned as Peridot stomped over to the pile of debris and shouted in a frothing rage “She destroyed our home! Where on Earth are we supposed to live?!”

Garnet had the answer. “Our bathroom is available.” With little other option, the two of them left their old home a soaking pile of rubble as they departed along with an excited Pumpkin for their new apartment. Garnet took hold of Steven who finally passed out from fatigue and the need for sleep and warped off with their two new house guests.

\---

Another pleasant day in Beach City, another day for Steven to relax from the latest batch of insane circumstances that was his life. Still, the ever-optimistic Steven woke with a smile ready to make the most of the day. As he stepped out of bed with the intent to fully rouse himself with a hot shower. He happily hummed a tune to no one in particular as he trudged to the bathroom where he found Peridot marching around the small room while Lapis was snoozing in the tub.

“Oh hey, Peridot! How do you like your new home?” he asked jovially, yet keeping his voice down to not disturb the dormant blue Gem. “Well, as much as we both appreciate the hospitality, we’ve both become accustomed to having more activities to occupy our time.”

“Huh?”

“She means we’re bored,” said Lapis, awoken thanks to Peridot’s lack of an indoor voice, “No offense Steven, but there’s nothing to do in here without messing with your stuff.”

The snappy youngster put on his thinking face, listing through all the options for entertainment he could imagine. When the answer came to him, his face lit up with glee.

“I know just the thing!” He opened the door for the two to follow him outside. Peridot gladly took the opportunity while Lapis was ready to doze off again, but could never hope to disappoint Steven. She trudged into the main room where she saw him and Peridot on the edge of his bed with the former turning on some device near his television. By the time Lapis walked up, he was inserting a small disc into the top of some purple cube with Peridot inspecting the small package that housed the disc.

“‘Super Bash Sisters Fracas?’ Is this some sort of combat simulator?” Lapis was now intrigued as the screen displayed a short cutscene showing the game’s roster of twenty-six characters to an epic song.

“It’s called a video game, Peridot. This one is all about fighting, but not all of them are. In this game, each of you pick a character and try to beat the other one up until they get knocked out of the arena. Trust me, it’s more fun than is sounds!”

“This doesn’t actually hurt us, does it?” asked a nervous yet fascinated Lapis.

“No, it’s all fake. Just don’t take this game too seriously like some people do. For some reason, there are people online who refuse to play any of the other games and insult anyone who does.”

“Are the later ones better?”

“Well they keep adding new characters, making new things to do, fixing bugs and glitches, and generally, yeah, they keep making the game better.”

“If that is the case then this group is utterly foolish,” remarked Peridot, “Why would you shun something that is clearly improving with each installment for an outdated model?”

“Nostalgia mostly. I wouldn’t mind, but they act like jerks about it. Anyway…” Steven handed them each one of the controllers and began guiding the two how to handle the ins and outs of the game. Leaving them with the instruction manual to answer any questions they had, Steven was ready to take his shower with the peace of mind that his two friends had something to entertain themselves with.

\---

Steven, grateful to have no more urgent business on his plate, was thrilled to just spend a day with Connie now that the rift between them was healed. They spent the day roaming around town together, conversing with a few of the locals, heading to the library to look at any new books Connie was interested in, and enjoyed a nice meal on the boardwalk followed by a round at the arcade. The two returned to Steven’s place to find Peridot and Lapis exactly where Steven had left them; sitting on the edge of his bed with controllers in hand. It was apparent that the two were quickly mastering the game’s combat system as they were clearly in a furious match. Peridot had chosen Zenith Ares, a galactic bounty hunter who fended off foes with a high-tech suit of power armor for her main and seemed to prefer long-range combat and items for combat. Lapis had gone the other route and chose Princess Hilda, a magic user who could also change into an alternate ninja-esque form called Shah with a strategy of switching between the two to disorient her opponent.

The Gems paid the jam buddies no mind as they battled each other, already pulling off combos and dodges with their virtual fighters. When the timer elapsed, Hilda was declared the winner causing Peridot to start jumping in fury.

“You and that stupid wave-dashing! I was inputting the exact same commands as you and Zenith moved a different distance than Hilda, messing me up every time! What is this game’s malfunction?!”

“Wave-dashing has a different distance for each character. It doesn’t show up in any other game…” Steven murmured.

“Well, at least you two seem to be getting along,” said Connie, eager to see her fellow Crystal Temps still around after Steven told her about yesterday’s events over pizza. Before many words could be exchanged, Pearl warped in looking for Steven only to be startled by the gathering.

“Well, hello everyone. Sorry to interrupt anything, but I need Steven for his new weapons training.”

“‘New weapons training?’ What does she mean?” asked Connie.

“Why don’t you all come to see for yourself?” asked Steven, “Can they come watch, Pearl?”

“I see no harm in it. Besides, I think you will all be very impressed by this. Garnet and Amethyst are already waiting at the sky arena.” Pearl departed, thinking an audience will help the up-and-coming fighter with working under pressure. Steven happily bounded ahead with Connie closely following behind, eager to see the new regiment. Peridot, curious as always, was next solely out of a desire to see this phenomenon and not at all because Lapis beat her in the last five matches. That left the wary Lapis in a peculiar situation of either attending some unknown, unexpected function or be left alone in a room for who knows how long with everyone wondering where she is. Not feeling comfortable with either committing such rudeness or being left alone, she reluctantly followed along and soon all of them were whisked away to the floating arena. The three spectators all took a seat among the many rows while Steven stood in the center of Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, the last of whom was acting as the main teacher.

“Alright Steven. Let’s start with you summoning each of our weapons.” Steven nodded and focused on the shape of Pearl’s spear. After a few seconds of concentration, he held a smaller pink replica of the spear much to the amazement of the crowd.

“Whoa! Steven, when did you learn to do that?!” inquired Connie.

“When I was being chased by a giant corrupted Gem in the arctic.” The young bookworm just shrugged.

“Huh, that’s a new one for him.”

Peridot was also fascinated. “Well, it appears his unique human-Gem physiology is granting him a few advantages. No offense to your species, but considering all the drawbacks such as needing nourishment and rest it seems fitting to earn some benefits.”

“Being human also makes him more emotional. Emotional enough to turn a heartless scientist into a lover of soap operas, right?”

“Fair enough…” squeaked the now much less snappy Peridot. Lapis kept quiet with her eyes focused on Steven as Pearl led him through summoning Garnet’s gauntlets and Amethyst’s whip before moving on to the next lesson.

“Nicely done, Steven. Now it will take you some time to learn to use these new weapons efficiently. We’ll get to some basics of each of our arms later. For now, let’s focus on your abilities with the shield.”

“You did pretty good against those rubies, but you need to stay fresh. Can’t get too comfy fighting off runts forever,” Amethyst added while pulling out her own whip.

Garnet threw in her two cents after summoning her gauntlets. “You need to learn to defend against different styles of combat. Learn to adapt and change your moves based on the situation.”

Pearl took over once again. “Exactly. We’ll start coming at you one at a time and switching places to keep you guessing. Now Steven, if you get overwhelmed, hurt or just wish to stop, just say the word and we’ll all immediately halt. Are you ready to begin?”

The vivacious lad brought his shield forth and brandished it with a smirk to show his readiness. Pearl responded by launching forward with her spear pointed right at the shield’s insignia. It was easily blocked, but allowed Pearl to use the momentum leap backwards giving Amethyst time to launch a crack at his back. Steven heard the oncoming lash and turned to block, but in twisting around he let his posture slip. He caught the birch in time, staggering thanks to the force, but was left wide open for Garnet to charge in fist blazing. Steven leapt to the side to dodge the attack. The towering fusion followed with several more strong punches and soon a rhythm began to form as Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet rotated positions with Steven holding up remarkably well. The assembled Gems and lady in the peanut gallery were all enraptured by the display. They could see Steven sweating under the pressure, but was quickly taking Garnet’s note on adapting to heart as he changed his defenses according to each Gem. When Pearl came at him with swift strikes and agile movements to dance around his shield, he kept his wall steady and pushed back when she let her guard down. Amethyst’s volley of long-range attacks was met with him charging forward through the strikes to close the distance and diminish her range advantage. Garnet’s hard-hitting punches were another matter and he used his own agility to jump out of the way, wasting her time and energy on hitting nothing.

Peridot was surprised at how quickly he was picking up the rudimentary patterns of their assault, appreciating how the boy who usually chose emotion over logic was strategizing so effectively. Connie was grand at seeing how far her friend had come, bouncing in her seat the whole time and half-ready to join in with one of Pearl’s swords. Lapis… was just struggling to remain seated.

She was somehow perspiring more than the boy in the middle of a combat exercise. Her entire body was tingling with dread watching him bob and weave through every attack. She knew it was all practice, she knew those three cared for Steven more than anyone, knew they would never dream of hurting him, this was all pretend so he’d be ready… for the next Homeworld invasion.

Now her greatest urge was to take off from the elevated arena and soar away from all the chaos she was sure was coming. If the first real invasion took her destroying the barn to stop, what would happen next? Would one of them be hurt? Would Steven and the Gems have to flee town? Would one of them be captured? Imprisoned?! _Shattered?!_

She had to look away from the demonstration before she flew into a full-blown panic. She tried to remember what Peridot had said right as she was about to leave last night; how she does not have to be the victim anymore. She has the power to keep herself and all of these Gems who had opened up to her safe. She could…

A thud and a grunt rang out the arena causing Lapis to open her eyes where she saw Steven, his shield gone and Pearl standing over her with her spear pointed right at him! The poor Gem felt a rush of anxiety and fear well up in her. She launched herself out of the stands with her wings before she could stop herself. She charged right into Pearl, sending her sprawling over the edge and plummeting to the ground below screaming in shock. While she could easily float down to safety, the others were more distraught.

“Lapis, why did you do that? This is all training!” exclaimed Steven, trying to split his concern between the falling Pearl and the frazzled Lapis.

“I uh-well I just-I didn’t mean to-I just saw her there-I thought you’d-I’m sorry-I didn’t-but- what-huh-I’m sorry-I didn’t know-I forgot-I’m sorry-I’m sorry-Is she okay-I’m sorry-I’m…”

“Calm down, Lapis. Pearl will be fine,” reassured Garnet, placing a hand on her shoulder as her body began shaking, “She should have no trouble breaking her fall. You just made a mistake, that’s all.”

Lapis could not bear to look her, or any of them, in the eye. All she wanted to do now was curl up in a corner where no one could see her. She did manage to fly down and retrieve Pearl as she was descending towards the ground at a controlled pace. Even Pearl could not hold a grudge seeing her so close to falling apart. Once back on the arena, the group marched back to the warp pad and flew back to the temple with Lapis running straight into the bathroom to cry in privacy.

“Man I knew that Gem had issues, but what the heck was that?!” asked Amethyst as the six gathered around the kitchen island. Steven and Connie took two of the bar stools while Amethyst sat on the counter with the others standing, all pondering the same thought.

Connie shared her hypothesis. “Well, she’s pretty new here and inexperienced with combat. Maybe it was just too much for her?”

“That would seem likely,” agreed Pearl, “I made rash decisions in the heat of battle and that was after millennia of experience! A complete newcomer like her, especially with all the hardship she’s been through, could be very easily frightened by all this even if it’s fake.”

“Yeah, the ruby attack was only yesterday…” said Steven as he drank a bottle of water to rehydrate after training, “She’s gonna need time to settle in.”

“To be fair, it was only rubies. It’s not like they were that much of a threat,” remarked Amethyst, before remembering Garnet was standing right next to her. “Eh, no offense…”

“None taken,” replied the fusion, “Regardless of what it was, Lapis is not used to stressful situations. She just might not be cut out for this sort of thing. Let’s just give her some space and see how she reacts over time.”

“Although we never would have gotten all those rubies if it weren’t for her,” admitted Steven, “Maybe if we remind her of that she’d feel better?”

“Not a bad idea, but we should just let her be for now,” suggested Pearl, “We’ll address her problems when she’s ready. In the meantime, I’d like to say I’m very impressed by your progress today, Steven! Next time we’ll focus on using our new weapons, alright?”

With Pearl’s encouragement said, their meeting seemed to be over and everyone went their separate ways. Everyone except for Connie, who for the last several minutes was running through what Steven told her about yesterday’s ambush and only now found a detail that did not quite fit. Just as he began to walk away, she grabbed his wrist to get his attention.

“Steven, you said there were twelve rubies on those ships right?”

“Yeah? What about it?”

“You said you bubbled two of them while Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst got three each right?” He nodded. Suddenly her eyes widened as the math clicked in her head. “Steven, that’s only eleven.”

“What?! One of the rubies escaped?!”

The dispersing Gems all heard the outcry and rushed back to confirm their suspicions. As Connie added up the numbers in front of them all, they all realized a massive lapse in logic. Before too much panic could emerge from this, Peridot got their attention by levitating several spoons out of the kitchen drawers and banging them on the counter.

“Will you all relax? I understand this is a slightly perturbing development, but let us recall that this is a _ruby_ we are speaking of. Rubies are designed to be grunts low on intellectual capacity and high on persistence at throwing themselves at whatever target they are told to hit. Not only is this a single grunt, but said grunt also has no technology to aid in battle, no way to properly contact Homeworld for reinforcements, and does not possess the brain power to develop either of these. They are not all like our Ruby, who has proven to be more insightful than this. Honestly, the only reason one posed a significant threat was that Steven was trapped with it in close quarters in the vacuum of space and he gave away false information giving her a clear motivation to shatter him. In retrospect, this oversight is not a major issue. Odds are that this ruby will either wander aimlessly or it will return out of a petty grudge and it will be vastly outnumbered.”

Peridot’s speech managed to calm them all down. Garnet in particular was pleased to hear the compliment for Ruby, given their past together, while Steven was turning red at remembering another instance where taking Rose Quartz’s identity landed him in hot water. With their fears assuaged, the six Crystal Gems once again dispersed with a newfound sense of relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So where did that last ruby run off to? How does this tie into anything? Are any other minor details going to have plot significance later? Find out next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	11. Earth and Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now to answer the latest in a long series of cliffhangers - where did that last ruby go? Time to find out!  
> (Side note: 2,000 hits! Never thought that would happen so fast...)

Miles past the borders of Beach City there was a lone red figure dashing through the forests of Delmarva. Some may have thought it was a child frightened by a fierce predator and was hopelessly lost from her family on a camping trip. That observer would be technically right, but if they actually heard the specifics they would likely raise an eyebrow hearing this was an alien warrior on the run after being stranded on a planet with her entire crew captured by a band of rebels.

This, as you may have guessed, was that lone ruby who managed to evade the Crystal Gems during their skirmish and hightailed it as soon as that flying Gem made her presence known. She was one of the two pilots of the now demolished vessels and had been running for several days without rest. The firebrand captain was at a complete loss of what to do other than avoid capture at all costs.

She came to a large clearing in the trees before finally stopping to regain her composure. She was sure no one was pursuing her, but the thought of seeing her entire crew and half a dozen others being wrangled up sent chills down her usually hot-blooded spine. As she stood still for the first time in days, she also felt a surge of anger well up in her. Here she was with no way to leave this useless rock. The best she could hope for was for Homeworld to send a rescue party, but she knew for sure that would never happen. After all, why wait for one ruby to come home when there are thousands still available?

The lone ruby, senses still heightened by the fear of abduction, went on alert when the sound of a twig snapping somewhere in the trees around her.

“Who’s there?” she yelled into the distance. A small flame was alight in her right hand. No response came, but she could pick up footsteps among the noises of nature.

“Come out here or I will attack!” Still no reply, the flame in the ruby’s hand grew to a fireball the size of a tennis ball.

“Alright then, you asked for it!” She chucked the sphere right between the trees where she last picked up the sound. It detonated, scorching the nearby pines and charring the grass. Within the light, the paranoid could make out a tall shadow begin fleeing away from the impact site. The ruby breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear a bizarre sound coming from somewhere behind her.

The sound… of someone laughing.

“What’s so funny?!” screamed the now enraged ruby, already igniting another fireball in her hand.

A piping yet drawling voice answered from the behind the line of trees. “That little flame… it’s adorable.”

The ruby, now too angry for words, responded by flinging her projectile as hard as possible in the vicinity of the voice. Another small explosion rang out and the figure seemed to dash away, its paces clearly audible to the pint-sized captain.

“Is that really all you have?” asked the voice, now clearly amused yet with a detectable note of boredom in her words, “You can’t go any bigger?”

“Why don’t you show yourself and say that?!”

In a surprising twist, the owner of the voice emerged. It was another Gem, but far and away from any the captain recognized. She was near the height of a pearl, but her physique was bulkier than that of a servant. Her skin was a violent scarlet, with a foot of orange hair standing straight up on her head like the flame of a candle. Her arms and legs were well-toned would remind a person like a marathon runner. Her outfit, in human terms, would be a tank-top that left her arms and stomach exposed to the elements and a pair of shorts that stopped at her knees with nothing on her feet. Her revealed midriff also held her Gem, a bright red stone in the shape of perfect circle. Unlike the rest of her, her coverings were all pitch-black like charcoal except for a pale-yellow diamond on the neckline of her top and the waistline of her shorts.

What worried the ruby most was her expression. This new Gem looked down on her, not just from the height difference. She literally saw her as beneath her. And her face seemed uncannily familiar…

“There. I’m here. Do you have anything better to show me now?” she piqued, a detached smile forming on her face.

The ruby fumed and snarled as she charged a third fireball, pushing it to the size of a baseball, and shoved it right into the new Gem’s core. The ball of flame met its mark and burst right on her gemstone, but the unknown Gem did not flinch. In fact, she began laughing even harder as if it tickled her.

“STOP LAUGHING AT ME!” roared the now thoroughly-enraged captain, the grass underneath smoking to prove her point.

This new Gem only laughed harder at this display before suddenly silencing herself and raising one of her arms in front of her. She pointed straight ahead of her before lowering her finger down towards the ruby’s hair.

“Let me show you what _real_ fire looks like…”

A fireball of her own, already larger than any the captain conjured up, shot out of her finger. The captain ruby dodged with a yelp but already there were more heading her direction. She frantically ran in circles and zig-zags, now screaming in terror as this incendiary Gem torched everything in sight with the same smug smile on her face.

In only seconds the entire clearing was an inferno as the trees around them were set ablaze. Thankfully neither of them were susceptible to smoke inhalation or fatal burning or else they would have been swallowed by the flames. The taller Gem turned her balls of fire into a continuous stream of flame, still using only her pointer finger, and began torching every tree as the rub fled into the thick of the woods in a panic. The sky was concealed by a blanket of smoke as the wildfire raged on, the ruby blindly dashing as far away from the psychotic Gem she encountered. She could barely see past the choking smokescreen and ran headlong into a tree. Despite being relatively safe from the fire, the ruby was terrified as the unknown Gem strolled up to her with her stream of fire still erupting from her finger pointing behind her. She was not even aiming at her anymore.

“Do you like it?” she asked, sounding as peaceful as could be among the flames. Before the captain could stutter a retort or a plea to stop this madness, a rumbling suddenly stopped her train of thought. The sound grew louder, discernable amongst the roaring blaze around them, and another Gem erupted from the burning earth.

This new Gem has an air of authority around her with a physique that added to her intimidation factor. She was the exact same height as the fire-starter, but far more muscular. She almost had the same thickness of a quartz soldier, but lacked the bulk or height. Her skin was a sickly chartreuse in color with pale yellow hair draped halfway to down her back, somehow perfectly straight. She wore what humans would describe as a jacket, one that matched her skin tone at the collar before fading into a murky brown by the ends at her waist that clung to her beefy arms with no apparent way to remove it. Her thick legs were covered by long pants that stopped at her ankles revealing her bare feet. Her gemstone was not visible since it was a pentagon-shaped green stone found on the back of her neck and obscured by her hair.

She did not seem to notice the ruby and was simply glaring at the scarlet arsonist, looking more irritated than frightened.

“Cinnabar, what are you doing?” she spoke with a deeper voice than her flame-happy counterpart, but seemed equally bored. “Since when did I say you could set forests on fire whenever you felt like it?”

“Oh relax Adamite,” she scoffed while rolling her eyes like this was humorous, “I was just having fun.” Cinnabar held out her hand and the masses of flames seemed to fly right into her palm where they collected and vanished into her being with seemingly no consequences to the gem. While the fire itself was gone, the one called Adamite shook her head at seeing the massive burns left on everything with some of the trees bearing scorch marks reaching stories up from their roots.

“There. Better?"

“No, not better. You cannot just go around burning whatever suits your interests. It doesn’t accomplish anything.” She crossed her arms, apparently used to her compatriot making some excuse, but Cinnabar gestured to the ruby still rooted to her spot.

“But I was trying to accomplish something! I was showing this Gem what real fire looks like. You should have seen her puny little…” Before she could start taunting the slightly traumatized gem, Adamite rushed over and grabbed the captain by the arm and dangled her in front of her face.

“A ruby, huh? What’s a sorry little soldier like you doing so far off of Homeworld?” she asked, looking even more condescending than Cinnabar.

“I’m stuck on this planet because those Crystal Gems wrecked my ship and abducted my crew!” she screamed, her patience long gone after today’s chase.

Both of the elemental Gems looked puzzled by this statement. They seemed to vaguely remember hearing the term, but neither of them could put a touch stub on where. The ruby still in Adamite’s arm was not amused.

“Let go of me right now! I need to find some way to get to Homeworld and let them know about Rose Quartz…”

That got Adamite’s attention. The green Gem dropped the ruby on the ground only for a ring of rock tall enough to trap her body sprung up around her in a flash. The captain tried to break free, but the ring was too thick and she could not build up enough momentum for her gauntlet to mean anything.

“Did you say ‘Rose Quartz’? The traitorous Gem who rebelled against her diamond?” she asked, looking genuinely excited for the first time. Cinnabar seemed to be catching along as she finally appeared to acknowledge what was happening.

“Yes! That Rose Quartz got captured and sent to Homeworld to face punishment for her crimes, but then she escaped so I and another ship of rubies were sent to scout for her. We were going to apprehend her and the rest of her allies when some freaky flying gem demolished our ships!”

“Flying gem?” yelped Cinnabar, now fully alert and actually sounding concerned, “What were her wings like?”

The ruby was thrown off by the statement. “I don’t remember! All I remember was she was blue, could fly and used water to move things. Now get this rock off of me!”

The two new Gems stared at each other for some time, mulling over the same thought. It was then that the ruby noticed one bizarre similarity between the two otherwise polarized Gems; their faces were identical. Their eyes, nose and mouth were in the exact same positions. A person may have guessed they were twin sisters with radically different fashion tastes. As she was processing this, a sudden detail come to mind.

“Wait, you want to know about that flying Gem?!” she blurted out, seeing a potential way to escape. They both stared at her, clearly interested in her information. “If I tell you what I know, you have to let me go! Deal?”

Cinnabar looked ready to hand her whatever she wanted, but Adamite held her back and simply nodded.

“She looked exactly like you two! Her face was just like yours! Does that help?” Both of the Gems looked stunned by the answer, even Adamite’s apparent boredom faded upon hearing it. Even still, the ring of rock did not lower to let the ruby free.

“Adamite, do you think it could be…” tempted Cinnabar, looking half ready to cry. The earthen Gem stood up and turned away from her prisoner.

“Where did you see this flying Gem?”

“I don’t know the name, but it was some open space near a really tiny colony of organic lifeforms!”

“Come on, Cinnabar. We finally have something to do now.” The chartreuse Gem finally cracked a smile at this news with her pyromaniac partner following behind her. “

Hey!” shouted the still trapped ruby, “What about me?! You said you’d let me go!”

Adamite stopped and, without even looking, caused a massive boulder to rise out of the ground as if by pure thought. It moved without a sound and levitated right over the ruby. She quickly put the pieces together and starting squirming with the hope there was some fault in the rock that would set her free. The huge stone moved higher and higher, Adamite never turning her head while Cinnabar watched with the same detached smile she had when setting the forest ablaze.

“What are you doing?! I thought you’d let me go!”

The boulder stopped near the treetops, nearly a hundred feet in the air. Her expression was as jaded as when she first arrived.

“I am letting you go. You’re going into dozens of pieces on the ground.”

“WHAT?!” the ruby screamed, the boulder beginning to fall as Adamite’s control over it fell and gravity pulled it down.

“You should have been more specific. Homeworld wants Gems to follow orders to the letter, right?”

The stone’s velocity grew as it plummeted, the ruby looking ready to bite her way out before fear finally overtook her and screamed as loud as possible before the boulder hit her. The resounding impact and her scream covered up the harsh crackling her gem made as it splintered into shards before being pulverized under thousands of pounds of rock. Adamite and Cinnabar simply walked through the incinerated forest, excited by the prospect of having a mission of their own. It was on their walk that Adamite remembered the term “Crystal Gem” and that only excited her more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus we have the first character death. Let us mourn for the loss of the unspecified ruby captain who was only introduced last chapter amongst eleven near-identical copies... For five seconds. You done? Good. Until next time!


	12. Choppy Waters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time, we head back to the temple to catch up with Lapis Lazuli after her little... outburst.

It took several hours for Lapis Lazuli to emerge from the bathroom following the training outburst that turned her into a nervous wreck. Her fear was less from the thought of actually hurting Pearl, knowing the veteran had seen far worse scrapes in her time. No, her dread came from both her fear of Homeworld (naturally) and letting down the other Crystal Gems. As much as she did not realize it at first, Lapis loved finally standing up for herself and all the new faces she had come to admire over that day of bonding. The smile Steven gave her after she saved them was fresh in her mind. Now here she was being scared over nothing. Some hero she felt like now.

When she emerged she saw all of the other Gems were absent, correctly assuming they returned to the sky arena for more training. The only one present was Connie, calmly doing homework on the coffee table while she waited for her mother to pick her up. It seemed Priyanka was having another late night, but that only gave Connie more time to focus on algebra.

“Hey Lapis,” waved Connie, looking up from her paper to give her eyes a rest, “How are you feeling?”

“Embarrassed.” Lapis hung her head in shame, but Connie just patted the seat next to her. The Gem took her offer and sat, resting her head on her knees.

“Connie, I feel like an idiot. I flipped out over nothing, in front of everyone, just because I’m scared Homeworld will come and do who knows what. I don’t feel much like a Crystal Gem now…”

“Why? It’s only been one day. When I first learned about all this, I couldn’t handle it right away!”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Everyone needs time to adjust to a big change like this. I can understand why you’re scared, I blew up at Steven for similar reasons. You just need a while to let all this sink in, okay?”

Lapis let her legs touch the floor and leaned back with a slight smile on her face. “Thanks Connie.” The young girl returned to her equations while Lapis simply walked outside, once again glancing up at the poster of Steven’s mother before stepping onto the porch and observing the waves. The rest of the Crystal Gems warped back in an hour later to find her still standing there watching the coastline in total serenity. They all left her there until the evening when she came in, said hi to everyone, and returned to her spot in the bathroom to sleep over everything that had happened today.

\---

When Lapis closed her eyes, she was curled up in the bathtub of Steven’s house with a rather pleasant state of mind. When she opened them, however, that went away as she awoke in a black void. There was no trace of her room or any of them Gems and panic quickly began to overcome her mind.

“Hello?! Steven, what’s happening?” she yelled into the distance, but her voice seemed weak against the dark expanse. Her hopes were lifted when she heard footsteps, only to quickly start backing away when she saw the figure they belonged to: a hulking orange Gem with a head of wild white hair and a cruel face she hoped to never see again.

Jasper’s face had the same domineering gaze. Her smile was full of malice. “I’ll tell you what’s happening Lapis. You’re coming with me.”

Lapis tried to pull out her wings, but they never came. She felt around her back but could not find her Gem. Somehow it had been removed from her body. She began frantically searching around for it, wondering how this was all possible.

“Looking for this?”

The pernicious bruiser held up her left hand, where Lapis’ now grey gem rested. The frailer flyer was completely baffled, but her remaining courage pushed her onward. She ran straight at her, but suddenly pain racked her entire form. She looked up and saw Jasper squeezing her gem, every push on the stone sending pulses of throbbing pain through her. She knelt and clutched her sides, causing Jasper to stop.

“You are _nothing_ , you hear me?!” shouted Jasper, grabbing Lapis by one arm like a doll, “All you are is a pathetic loser who wanted to abandon her comrades. What good are you to anyone?”

“I… Steven… The Crystal Gems… Peridot… they…”

“What, those failures? Don’t you know what’s happened to them already?”

The blackness was suddenly broken by a series of spotlights, all harsh white with a single object silhouetted in the center. Lapis walked towards them, but stopped dead when she recognized what they were; mirrors. Five hand mirrors identical to the ones she was stuck in. The worse part was on the front of them she could clearly make out the faces of Peridot, Amethyst, Pearl and Garnet’s two components. They were shouting, crying for help. Amethyst was literally pounding the glass to no avail. Lapis tried stepping forward, but Jasper put a stop to it by gripping her gem. The helpless Lapis could only watch as a massive figure rose up behind them, everything hidden in shadow except for a stern pair of yellow-colored eyes with unnatural pupils stared down at her from several stories up. She glanced down at the mirrors beneath and one by one the images faded to nothingness. When they were all dark, they began dousing the space with a never-ending torrent of black water. Lapis did not bother moving as her tears began mixing with the flood which spread along the expanse. She could have done something with all this water, but the pain of watching all her new and old friends die was too much. Jasper, still acting as confident as ever, gripped her shoulder and whispered into her ear.

“Don’t worry about those losers. You’re mine now…” Jasper then took hold of the Gem and placed it on Lapis’ back in its proper place, but not as an act of generosity. Lapis knew exactly what Jasper wanted. She summoned whatever strength she had left and tried to run, but without even moving the other Gem stopped her dead in her tracks. Her voice seemed oddly giddy at this development.

“Trying to fight back now? A lot of good that will do you…” She strode forward, Lapis falling onto her knees against her will. And then something happened she never would have imagined; she smiled. She began to laugh as Jasper forced her onto the floor, still controlling her through her Gem somehow.

“I told you, you are mine!” But Jasper stayed right where she was as Lapis’ body began to shift right before her eyes. Her skin and gem turned to a shade of turquoise, her size rapidly increasing as her arms and body rippled with muscle. A second set of eyes grew below her own and her legs morphed into another set of arms with a third pair erupting from her sides. Her back half grew bulkier than her front, forcing her to arch her back and carry herself on four of her arms, and her hair grew out into a wild white frizzy mane. The only thing that remained the same was the position of her gem and her voice.

All the while she was still laughing. She felt power erupt from every part of her new body and she loved it. The size, the strength, it was making her giddy to crush anything that got in her way… no, everything that got in _Jasper’s_ way. She was Jasper’s pet, her sole purpose to obey and serve, destroying anything she was told to with no hesitation unless her master said so. The only other name she knew was her own: Malachite.

Jasper looked pleased as Malachite, despite towering over, and eagerly waited for her first opportunity for her new pet to show off her power. As if on command, a new light shone forth showing a young boy with a pink Gem for his navel.

He looked at her with confusion and fear, but that was no concern to Malachite. Her only concern came when her master snapped her fingers and pointed at this strange youth.

“That’s Rose Quartz. Destroy her, but not right away. Make it hurt first.” Malachite and Jasper shared the same sadistic smile as all the water around them rushed towards their enemy and formed a whirlpool. The young boy tried to shield himself from the onslaught, but was swept away and battered by the intense force. Out of nowhere the cyclone stopped dropping the boy several feet onto his back with a harsh thud. He was soaked from head to toe, bruised from the fall and utterly terrified by the monsters clearly enjoying his suffering.

“Jasper… what did you do to Lapis?” The young boy asked, but the orange brute just laughed at his misfortune.

“There is no Lapis anymore. I admit it’s not as good as having the power myself, but now there’s no way she can fight back. Isn’t that right Malachite?”

“Yes my Jasper!” replied the massive monstrosity, her voice sounding disturbingly enamored to say such a sentence.

With that the boy tried charging forward towards his former friend, but a wall of water surged forth to push him back. He summoned a large pink shield to help him hold is ground, but Malachite just commanded the water around his feet to literally sweep him away in a current. A geyser then launched the boy dozens of feet in the air before another caught him during his fall. He could barely breathe as he was roughly tossed from one water spout to the next with Jasper and Malachite gleefully drinking in his misery.

Even after another rough landing the shield-bearing boy refused to back down, and at one point tried charging right at Jasper. Before he could get close, however, Malachite stomped in front of him with startling speed given her physique and literally roared at him to stay away. When he refused to back down, he was grabbed by the enormous mutated gem and crushed in one of her mighty hands while he squirmed for dear life as his bones began bending under the pressure. Eventually he began screaming in agony as sickening cracks rang out from everything as his ribs, arms, legs and everything in between snapped. Satisfied her master was safe, Malachite flung the now broken boy onto the ground. Jasper was very pleased seeing her old enemy finally defeated and helpless before her and her new pet.

With a final snap of fingers, Jasper called for this massacre to end. All of the water from the darkened mirrors flooded forth, molding and freezing into hundreds of icy shards aimed right at her prey. Malachite held her hands high and grinned as the boy gave her one last glance, pleading for the Lapis Lazuli he once knew to come out and save him. Her grin only widened seeing this as she thrusted her hands down, sending the shards flying at him and-

\---

It was two in the morning at the beach house. Steven was contently snoozing away while Peridot was on his couch reading some library books to learn about human history and technology. Other than her using her metal powers to levitate a flashlight over the pages as she read, it seemed to be a peaceful night with calm weather and everyone resting after a long day.

Then a massive groaning noise and several small explosions tore the calm to ribbons.

As Steven was forced out of bed by the shockwaves, Peridot gripped her flashlight and began scouting the area. Once he managed to get his bearings, Steven ran to the temple only to run into the other gems emerging from Garnet’s room.

“Steven, are you alright?!” yelled Pearl, lifting the boy into her arms to check him for injuries.

“I’m fine and the house seems to be too. Maybe it was a really sudden earthquake?”

“I doubt it, Steven. Gems, check everything outside in case there’s an intruder. Steven, stay here with me,” ordered Garnet, planting herself firmly on the warp pad in case this was the work of a malevolent Gem who stayed inside to avoid pursuit. The other Gems returned soon after, though, checking the entire beach for signs of escape.

“Garnet, our search for other Gems was a bust,” spoke Amethyst, “But Pearl found something really weird under the house.”

“I checked under the porch to see if a Gem was hiding until we all evacuated. There wasn’t any gem there, but there was something wrong with our water pump.”

“Hold on, we have a water pump?” asked Steven.

“Yes, we have a specially installed water pump located under the house in order to fuel the indoor plumbing. We modified it with some special gem artifacts so it would purity water from the ocean to make fresh water for the indoor plumbing.”

Steven was briefly starstruck hearing this. “Wow! Where does our electricity come from?!”

“Solar panels,” said Garnet flatly, wanting to get back on track, “You said you found something unusual.”

“Right, I have no idea how this could have happened shy of a massive malfunction or first-class sabotage and rest assured the system is capable of repairing itself over time but-“

“All the water’s gone! It just vanished somehow!” shouted Amethyst. Pearl looked less than amused to be cut off mid-ramble, but the impish purple Gem just shrugged under her gaze. “What? Garnet probably wants you to get to the point.”

“She’s right.” As Amethyst silently beamed at nailing it, Garnet walked over to the sink and opened the cabinet beneath. Much to the collected group’s shock, the pipe had completely burst into shards. Pearl placed a nearby bucket under the pipe in case the water returned before the damage was fixed. This only puzzled the five even more until Steven ran to the bathroom to check on Lapis.

“Lapis, are you okay?” he tried knocking on the door, but hardly any sound came. He tried banging on the door as hard as possible, but for all his effort it sounded like he was hitting the door with pillows over his hands.

“Okay, now this is getting weird. By OUR standards,” remarked Amethyst as she and the others all gathered around the door.

“Lapis, is everything alright in there?” asked Pearl. She moved Steven aside and tried to open the door herself, but it refused to budge! Even as she started trying to push the door with her entire body it stayed in place. With her quickly devolving into a wreck as irritation and tumult overrode her normally logical mind, Garnet decided to take the more direct approach.

“Lapis, this is Garnet. We are coming in there to make sure that you are safe after those shockwaves. Open the door now or we have no choice but to force our way in.” Garnet readied one of her gauntlets and gave the aquatic gem inside thirty seconds to comply. After the time elapsed with no response, Garnet thrust her fist straight into the door which even then remained standing. This was not the end, however, as Garnet punched again and again with her slowly making headway as the door began to tremble and buckle. When the wood finally began to crack, all of them were too preoccupied with the thought of Lapis being in possible danger to notice the bizarre rippling noise on the other side or notice the smell of dampness coming from inside. After several minutes of assault, the door finally broke completely-

And the five were swept away by a miniature tidal wave! With no warning, an enormous rush of water forced all of them away sputtering in shock as the rest of the house was drenched. Steven was left completely dazed, coughing up a fit after swallowing a large gulp of the flood forcing him on the floor by the front door. Amethyst, Pearl, and Peridot were all in shock, but otherwise seemed unharmed as they were carried into the kitchen by the wave. Garnet, meanwhile, remained firmly planted in front of the door as strode in to find something that left even her speechless.

There was Lapis Lazuli, hugging herself in a fetal position, rocking herself back and forth on the floor of the bathtub where she went to rest hours ago. Her eyes were clamped shut, streaming tears nonstop and whimpering in fear. The entire room resembled a battlefield, all of the Steven’s toiletries were gone as they were carried away by the flood. The sink was smashed on the floor with its pipe in pieces, several tiles where missing from the floor and shower walls, and the showerhead itself was demolished. Garnet walked forward, stupefied by the sight in front of her, and cradled the still weeping Lapis in her arms. She carried her out onto the beach with the other gems close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's my first attempt at making nightmare fuel. I was somewhat anxious to make this, but I wanted to step outside my comfort zone. Next time, some lighter fare to balance things out. Until next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or suggestions below.


	13. Boardwalk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for a breather, Steven gets some time to relax with his friends and family...

Steven called his father in the middle of the night after the entire place was cleared out. Lapis, after recovering from her panic attack, retold as much as she could without getting too emotional. At first the gem was scared she was legitimately going insane, but Steven and Pearl clarified that it was merely images created by her subconscious that were in no way real. While that soothed her somewhat, Lapis was still shaken to the core by that and the damage she had wreaked on their house. Now they, along with a groggy Greg, were sitting around his van with the music man in the back with his son.

“Well, I had a hunch that the place would get trashed with the magical shenanigans you all get up to in there,” he remarked, “But at least everything’s still standing. I’ll call a crew to inspect it in the morning.”

“Thank you, Greg. I’m sorry we had to call you so late, but we figured you should know,” said Pearl.

“Well, at least this happened after I got a ton of money to fix it with! And Lapis, try to pinch yourself so you wake up early if this happens again okay?”

The crestfallen gem was sitting on top of the van with her back to everyone. She only replied with a noncommittal grunt. As Steven rode away with his dad to stay with him until the house was deemed safe, the Gems simply sat on the beach (minus Lapis who took to sitting on the roof, still unable to look at them) with nothing in mind to pass the time.

\---

Steven woke up in his caterpillar sleeping bag to find Greg cooking a deluxe breakfast for two: chocolate chip waffles, microwave bacon and orange juice boxes freshly picked from a cooler. Some of Greg’s first purchases after he hit his fortune were to upgrade his mobile kitchen could use an upgrade from more than a single waffle iron.

“Morning, schtu-ball!”

“Good morning dad,” smiled Steven, “Has anyone gone by the house yet?”

“Not yet, but they’ll get there soon. I took a peek inside and it looks alright, but water damage is no joke.” He handed Steven his plate as he shared the news. “Worst case scenario, they have to change the flooring and plumbing. Although, we may need to redo the whole bathroom, I didn’t check in there… We’ll worry about that when that comes. So, what do you want to do today while that happens?”

Steven was simply looking at his plate, despite his stomach openly protesting. “I don’t know… With all that’s gone on recently I’m not sure what to expect anymore. All I know is Lapis really needed help before and this whole thing’s just going to make her feel worse.” The two ate their meal in silence until Greg came up with an idea.

“It sounds like you could all use a break from all the alien invasions and new powers… Why not just have a fun day?”

Steven seemed to lighten up at the thought. “Yeah… We haven’t really done anything together since Lapis and Peridot moved in with us. We could all hang out and forget all this Homeworld stuff for a while! That sounds great!”

“Alrighty then, so that’s settled! Let your old man take care of home repairs while you and Gems have a day without any worries! Any ideas on what you want to do?”

“We haven’t done anything at Funland recently. That could be a fun time!”

“So it’s a plan! You spend the day relaxing and I’ll make some calls to get the house looked at. I think I’ll call Connie first…”

“Wha? How come?”

“Well, I’m sure she’d like to have some time off too, right?”

“You’re the best Dad I’ve ever had!” Steven hugged his old man as he was dialing his bookworm buddy to join in on their festivities.

“But wait, do you want come along to? You shouldn’t have to do all the work yourself.”

“Hey now, I’m the adult! It’s my job to worry about renovations and bills and your job to eat funnel cakes and win stuffed animals.”

“And save the world!”

“Yeah… that too,” Greg put down the phone as Dr. Mahesweran picked up on the other line, looking rather dejected at that last comment.

“Dad? Are you alright? Was it something I said?”

“Huh? Oh no, Steven you’re fine. Tell you what, if there’s nothing major that needs doing today, I’ll swing by and join in on the fun okay?”

“Okay. I’ll walk back so you can get started. See you later, daddy-o!”

“Later, son-brero!” Greg waved his son goodbye as Connie got on the phone and gladly agreed to spend the day with the gems. All the while, though, Greg was more relieved than anything to know Steven would be taking a day off from his usual routine of recovering Gem treasures and fighting hostile invaders. He was proud of him for doing such heroic deeds, but can he just spend one day as a normal kid whose biggest problems was puberty?

\---

It was an almost alien feeling as of late, the Crystal Gems having nothing on their plates while the house was being inspected. While some of them insisted on helping with repairs or cleanup, Steven talked them into having a day to themselves. Considering the last one caused Lapis Lazuli to stick around, they figured all of them could benefit from some destressing time.

After grabbing a nutritious lunch of fry bits from the Fryman’s shack for Steven, the eager half-gem, Connie and the five alien women stood at the entrance to Beach City Funland where Mr. Smiley, the owner and apparent sole operator of the park, was there to meet them.

“Hey there, special guests! Come to have a fun-derful day here?” he greeted with is usual ear-to-ear grin, “I’ve been told that you guys are to be treated as VIPs today!”

“Really? Who said that?” asked Peridot, “And what does ‘VIP’ mean?”

“First question, Mr. Universe’s debit card, that’s who! Second of all, it stands for **V** ery **I** mportant **P** erson and means you all get these special wristbands and cards to ride and play as much as you want all day!”

Having his hands behind his back the whole time, he revealed seven golden cards in his left hand and seven paper bands in his right. They all gladly accepted their gifts, though there was clearly some apprehension in his cheer.

_“I just hope he’s willing to pay any collateral damages too…”_ he thought to himself, hoping someone would guess the sweat on his brow was from the heat.

Lapis, still partially morose from her sleepless night, was holding her card and wristband with dread as if her touch would cause them to explode. “So… what exactly do we do here?”

“Don’t worry, summertime fun buddy! I know just the thing for you and Peridot now!” He took hold of her hand along with the grumbling Peridot (muttering how the proper term for her would be VI _G_ , but she could post in disgust about that later) and steered them towards the Funland Arcade where the two were instantly taken aback by the multitude of games in front of them.

“Wow! Are these all video games?!” said a slightly overwhelmed Lapis, the sight finally lifting her out of her funk.

“Yep! And thanks to those cards in your hands, you can play as much as you want! Have fun in there!”

The two charged in like children handed the keys to a candy store with Amethyst deciding to join them, ready to cheat her way at skee-ball again. The other four wandered off for their own way to spend the time. Garnet decided to simply settle on a bench and observe the occasional passersby and the scenery, taking in the salty air and sounds of merriment with her usual calm demeanor.

“So Pearl, what do you want to do?” asked Connie.

“Well, I’ve learned that those games are not my strong suit and although these rides seem like an adequate distraction, I don’t know how they would compare to all the excitement I have experienced…”

“Well, you might as well try some, right? That wristband is only good for one day after all.”

Hearing this the refined gem began to deliberate to herself, observing all the attractions around her until her eyes settled on the tilt-a-whirl. The three headed over and, with a flash of their wristbands, were let on the ride and enjoyed several minutes of joyous spinning. At least that was the case for the kids as Pearl was quickly overwhelmed, demanding the operator to diminish the velocity and inertia this instant. Naturally, the person Smiley had hired to operate the ride was a typical high-school student so his only response to the fully disoriented Pearl as she stumbled off the ride was “May the force be with you next time!” with a smirk. If it were not for her inability to find a single target in her vision, Pearl would have launched into a lengthy lecture about physics until Steven and Connie dragged her off to a bench to regain her senses.

“I guess thrill rides aren’t your thing either Pearl…” remarked Connie, “You’d think after everything you’ve done this would be nothing.”

“Your confidence is appreciated, Connie, but I suppose my mindset is different in combat. I will say it is nice to have some private time with you all, even if that little hooligan can’t be bothered to know the most basic concepts of physics…”

Before she could launch into several minutes of frustrated rambling, Amethyst walked over. “Hey dudes! What are you all up to?” asked the purple gem, wearing a pair of tacky blue heart-glasses she got from the arcade’s prize cabinet.

“Pearl didn’t like the tilt-a-whirl,” remarked Steven.

“And most likely wants to reform the public education system,” added Connie.

“Hah! That is something she’d do to relax…” she laughed, lowering her new shades to give the disgruntled Pearl a smug look. The recovering Gem crossed her arms, although it was obvious she could tell Amethyst was joking and was laughing at her own expense. A few more seconds passed before Pearl assured she was fine and the two could run off by themselves so long as they were all together at the end of the day. Amethyst took the now empty seat next to Pearl and kicked her feet up to get comfortable.

“So what happened in the arcade? Did you win all those tickets that fast?” inquired Pearl.

“Nah, it turns out Smiley got some kids to oversee the arcade and one of them caught me. After she yelled at me for like five minutes, she agreed to let me have anything I wanted as long as I didn’t come back. And now I got these sweet things for free!”

“You already had free admittance,” Pearl grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Why did you feel the need to cheat?”

“Because it’s my way of having fun and it doesn’t hurt anyone. I mean, yeah, sucks for the park who buys this stuff, but these can’t cost more than a few bucks. I could have asked for something really nice, you know? She did say _anything_ they had, after all.”

Pearl looked straight up in alarm. “That’s… actually a very reasonable argument. What parallel dimension did that spinning death-machine send me to?” The rowdy gem laughed at her discomfort, but got unusually quiet after some time. She crossed her arms and tried her hardest to look at anything except Pearl. The more disciplined gem recognized this behavior. Amethyst had something on her mind.

“What’s bothering you? I doubt this has something to do with throwing balls into holes.”

While her phrasing did cause Amethyst to chuckle, she eventually looked over and asked a hard-hitting question. “Pearl…what was the first gem war really like?” Her voice was terribly quiet and restrained compared to her normal tone.

“What?! Why the sudden interest in it?” replied Pearl.

“Because I never saw any of it. Sure, Rose would say some things about it, but she never gave me a real look at it. I think she was worried it’d freak me out and scare me off…” Her fists tightened and her eyes looked squarely at the planks below her.

“Amethyst… are you afraid that Homeworld is coming to attack?” Pearl placed a hand on the smaller gem’s shoulder, but was shaken off.

“Maybe…” she sulked, “I mean, it’s just swarms of angry gems armed with boatloads of weapons better than ours, there’s thousands of them and only six of us, and they can make freaky mad science crap that can blow up the planet! What’s to be scared of, am I right?!” Her glasses clattered to the ground as she began shaking in fear, but Pearl simply placed an arm around her.

“Of course I would be scared, Amethyst. Frankly, I’m grateful you or Steven didn’t have to see any of that. For all the things I miss from the rebellion; all my old friends, the victories we had, Rose… It was terrifying. One minute your comrade was next to you, then they were gone and never heard from again. I feel blessed that it has stayed quiet for so long. I feel like everything Rose fought for was worth it getting to spend so much time here without having to look over my shoulder.”

Pearl and Amethyst locked eyes, a mutual sense of gratefulness passing through them and returning to the lighthearted day they were supposed to be enjoying. The two stood up, Amethyst quickly reclaiming her glasses, before strolling off to find something to entertain them.

“Besides,” Pearl remarked as they began on their way, “I doubt Homeworld would know how to corner the Purple Puma.” She finished with an identical smirk to the one she received earlier, earning a sisterly punch to the arm for her wit.

\---

Without meaning to, the seven very-important-visitors split into pairs with Steven and Connie partaking in as many rides as they could before they needed to catch their breath, Lapis and Peridot were glued to the arcade as they gorged on one game after the next with the two finding a special fondness for air hockey, and Amethyst and Pearl simply talked while observing the people and jabbing at each other for kicks. That left Garnet on the same bench she had been on since they arrived, only now her thoughts had drifted away from the scenery onto more pressing concerns.

_“So much has happened that I should have seen…”_ she thought morosely, reflecting on the past few weeks of abduction, attacks, and other nasty surprises. She was immensely grateful that none of the other gems were around to see her turmoil, fearing that would dampen the fun they were all having. Inside her head two voices were in the middle of an argument.

_“I just don’t get it!”_ yelled Ruby, _“These Homeworld creeps keep getting the jump on us! Heck, they may have caught Steven if Lapis wasn’t there!”_ “

_I see that is rather unlikely,”_ retorted Sapphire, _“Given our collective skills, Steven’s unexpected level of improvement and Peridot’s usefulness, the odds of them succeeding were slim.”_

_“But that’s just it! You said Steven’s improvement was ‘unexpected’, shouldn’t we know about it?”_

_"I am just as displeased as you are! We just can’t see everything or else none of this would have happened!”_

Garnet felt the displeasure well up and started shaking in her seat, clutching herself to stop her quaking.

“Quiet!” she hissed at herself “Don’t fall apart now, that’s the last thing they all need to see!”

It seemed to work as she became stable once again, but the inadequacy lingered. She took several deep breaths to calm her doubts. She hummed a soothing melody, the same one she taught Stevonnie months ago, to regain her serenity. She stood up and decided to do something with her time and walked up to the arcade where she found Peridot and Lapis playing a remake of the arcade classic “Univina”, only instead of a simple space-shooter, this version bombarded the ten-foot tall screen in front of them with rainbow flashes every time they blew up an enemy fighter. The newest Crystal Gems were happily blasting away, even as the multitude of colors distracted them from their actual objective.

“HA! If only piloting a vessel were this simple,” waxed Peridot as she blew through line after line of fighters, “I could have an entire fleet under my control and still read a book at the same time!”

“And yet you can’t get the hang of pinball,” smirked Lapis, who gladly took the backseat to her showboating partner as she hit whatever ship Peridot overlooked in her grandstanding.

“Well excuse me if it’s difficult to play the game properly when you CAN’T SEE THE TABLE!”

“So you thought using your metal powers on a tiny ball in a machine filled with metal objects would work?”

“Relax, I got it unstuck and the damage is mostly cosmetic. It’s not like such a primitive machine is difficult or costly to repair right?”

Garnet simply smiled at their banter, but made a mental note to bring something to cheer Greg up when he got his next bank statement.

\---

The Gems had all agreed to reunite at the entrance to the park around sunset to head home with Connie being brought home on a portal to Lion. According to her phone, they still had at least two hours to enjoy themselves and thus she and Steven were feeding seagulls some leftover popcorn they could not finish to unwind after several rounds of carnival rides, processed food, and just having a grand time together.

Steven and she were perfectly content to sit there for the rest of the day until their time was up, maybe head into the arcade themselves for a bit, until Steven got a phone call from his father.

“Hey Dad! Is everything good for you to come over?” he asked, hoping he could challenge his old man to the ring toss, but he quickly learned that was not going to happen.

“Steven, I’m afraid that’s not happening. In fact, you and the Crystal Gems need to come home now. I’ve already called Dr. Mahesweran to pick up Connie. She doesn’t need to see this…” His voice was weary and ridden with guilt as if he just made a deal he immediately regretted.

“What? What’s wrong, you sound upset?”

“I can’t explain, just hurry up and get here before-” was all he got out before the call ended. Steven instantly stood up and ran into the amusement park and found Amethyst and Pearl still strolling without a care in the world.

“Guys!” he yelled, snapping them out of their pleasant bickering, “We need to get back to the temple! I think my dad is in trouble!”

“What?!” They both shouted in shock. The two ran back to find Garnet, Lapis and Peridot. Connie grabbed Steven’s wrist before he could join on their search party.

“Steven, what’s going on?! Is it Homeworld again?” she asked looking into his eyes, eager to help.

“Connie, Dad just told me your mom is coming to pick you up. He doesn’t want you here and it sounds like something has him seriously scared. I can’t change his mind now, just trust me, okay?”

She was clearly displeased with this, but decided to bow to Greg’s wishes this time. Plus, knowing her mother, she figured if she ran off she would have half of the state police force looking for her missing daughter. Connie stayed on the same bench waiting for her ride while all six of the Crystal Gems ran up towards the entrance. Steven waved goodbye to his friend as he dashed off with his family.

It only took a few minutes for the Crystal Gems to return, Steven actually being at the head of the pack as he sprinted ahead with a combination of anxiety and anger on his face. Garnet was next carrying Peridot on her shoulders so the smaller technician would not fall behind followed by Pearl and Amethyst running alongside each other in unison. Lapis was farther behind them, flying several stories in the air to get a bird’s eye view of any potential threat. It also gave her some semblance of peace so she could decide whether she wanted to enter whatever danger was ahead. When they rounded the cliff on the beach near their home, they were stunned by what they saw: a war zone.

It was apparent that Greg delivered on his promise of getting inspectors to look at the house today as several pick-up trucks were scattered about with some basic building supplies in tow for good measure. The disheartening part was that all of them were severely damaged, some being twisted and burned as if doused by a flamethrower while others were half-buried in sand and smashed by rocks. They saw trails of footprints leading up towards the house, implying whatever caused this sent the workers running away in a panic.

“Dad?! Where are you? Are you okay?” shouted Steven, paralyzed at seeing the carnage. The other gems were all stupefied, some readying themselves for a threat while others gawked at the mayhem.

The tension broke as the front door to the beach house opened. Out walked Greg, his head hung low in shame with his hands behind his back.

“Greg, thank goodness!” exclaimed Pearl, “What caused all of this?!”

The answer soon came forward as a new gem walked about behind him. Her face was unreadable as she walked down the stairs to the group while Greg remained on the porch, his hands bound behind his back by a pair of stone handcuffs.

All of the Crystal Gems revealed their weapons as the attacker walked forward. None of them recognized what type of gem this was; chartreuse skin, long hair, burly physique under a jacket and long pants. She stopped ten feet away from them when the sound of a roaring fire caught their attention. They all turned to see a massive fireball racing towards them from up the beach, stopping ten feet from their backs. The flames died down to reveal another unidentifiable gem, this one scarlet with a more revealing black ensemble and a placid grin on her face like she frequented long walks as a small inferno often and this was just a pleasant distraction.

“Who are you two?! What do you want?!” shouted Steven, his emotions boiling over seeing his home wrecked and his father imprisoned.

“My name is Adamite,” said the green gem to their front, “The other one is Cinnabar. We want two things from you. First, we want any and all information about a Lapis Lazuli in the area.”

“And?”

“Rose Quartz. We plan on forcing her back to Homeworld to face punishment for her crimes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that didn't last long! Tune in next time for a rousing battle between two rogue elementals, five angry rebels and a half-gem who didn't get his funnel cake!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	14. Elementary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for a good old-fashioned scrap between original characters and canon cast members! Who knows what could happen?!

There were many thoughts running through the Crystal Gems’ minds as Adamite and Cinnabar cornered them. Some were analyzing possible weaknesses in the enemies’ stance and logic. Some were simply dying to break the unease forming in the air as both teams remain silent. Steven was trying to do both of these while mentally pounding himself for ever assuming his mother’s identity. He even swore to himself that he will change his voice mail for every single contact to “Hey, this is Steven. Sorry I can’t talk to you now. Please leave a message. I’M NOT ROSE QUARTZ! Hope I can get back to you soon, bye!”

Both of the new gems scanned the small crowd for their targets. While Adamite looked impassive as she stared them down, Cinnabar was getting restless and ignited two large fireballs in her hands.

“Where’s Lapis?! We know she’s around here somewhere! Tell us NOW!” The flames grew even larger, the gems could feel heat radiating off of their backs.

“Calm down, Cinnabar! Roasting them isn’t going to get us answers…yet,” commanded Adamite. Her order seemed to penetrate the frenzied fire gem and the blaze died down, but her body language made it clear she wanted to disobey.

“Whoa, there Hot Shot!” remarked Amethyst, turning to face Cinnabar trying to defuse her nerves “If you want to get fried, just ask and I’ll serve you up!”

“Ha, that threat might mean something if you could stand up to me. Now be quiet, unless you want to get whipped,” retorted the scarlet invader, earning a boastful smile from her purple adversary. This may be a serious moment, but Amethyst respected trash talk as an art form and this one clearly had skills.

“Enough! We’ll give you one last chance, release the human and leave or fight!” shouted Garnet, her rage overwhelming her reason as she once again felt responsible for night foreseeing this encounter.

“I can understand why you would be so protective of Rose Quartz, given that she is your leader. Even so, I doubt you all have the capabilities to defeat us. Our abilities are far and away from what most gems are capable of,” remarked Adamite.

“Well then…” whispered Peridot as she raised and bent an arm, “You’re not the only one!” She snapped her arm straight, causing the doors of one of the half-submerged trucks to fly off its hinges towards Adamite. She only showed the slightest bit of surprise as the projectile flew closer. With a flick of her own arm, the sand beneath her feet rose into a crude wall, stopping the door only inches from her form. Despite its force, the wall held firm and caused the improvised metal missile to break apart leaving Adamite unharmed.

“Interesting,” remarked the unharmed Adamite, her tone as patronizing as before, “You do have some unique abilities of your own.” With a stomp of her foot, a spire of rock launched Peridot twenty feet in the air, the formerly smug analyst screaming as she flew. “A pity they are useless against me.”

As Peridot ascended higher into the sky, desperately missing her limb enhancers for the first time in ages, Cinnabar readied a long spear of flames to pierce her as she began falling back to the ground, grinning as she took aim, eager to finally have some and action…

“NO!” shouted Lapis, finding the courage to enter the fray. She swooped down at lightning speed, grabbing Peridot mid-flight and sending a large wave right at Cinnabar, dousing her blazing halberd and taking everyone by surprise.

“Stop this right now! I won’t stand by while you hurt everyone! Either go away or we’ll make you…” demanded Lapis. The other Crystal Gems could hardly believe the sight of the normally meek Lapis willingly picking a fight, but her piercing glare and raised fists backed up her words.

Cinnabar, after recovering from her surprise deluge, stepped forward with an unusual timidness as if approaching a wild animal. She looked in utter disbelief as she walked closer, right past all of the gems she was just intimidating a second ago.

“Lapis…?” asked the mystified red gem in a voice so quiet even Adamite was shocked, “Is that really you?”

Lapis turned around to face her new opponent, but her fury dissipated when she laid eyes on Cinnabar. The other Crystal Gems were all caught off guard as well upon seeing the two together. Their faces were exactly the same, as if someone literally copied Lapis’ exact image onto another body. And on another glance, Adamite was the same too! Even gems of the same type were not spitting images of each other as these three.

While Lapis was as disturbed by this as the others, there was even more apprehension for her as she felt a hunch that she really did know who this madwoman was. Of course she had no actual memory of her, but something deep down told her otherwise.

The incendiary intruder stopped two feet from her maritime twin, studying each other’s faces. Then, without any warning, Cinnabar wrapped Lapis in a warm hug, crying tears of joy proclaiming “It IS you! It’s been so long! Where have you been all this time?!” as if reuniting with a long lost love.

“What are you talking about?! Get off of me!” shouted a now confounded Lapis, throwing off her red counterpart, “I have never seen you two in my life! All I know is you attacked my home and nearly hurt one of my friends! Stop acting like you know me!”

The other gem looked heartbroken at her harsh words, but Adamite appeared behind her by tunneling through the earth to put a hand on shoulder. As her companion began to weep, the stern gem looked Lapis in the face.

“Lapis Lazuli Facet-1KYC Cut-1XI? Terraforming Brigade 7-Delta? We went on 147 missions together?” The gem in question returned with a confused look, forcing Adamite to hide her own sorrow by looking down until she could regain her composure.

“Pearl, what’s going on? Have you ever seen gems like these two before?” asked Steven, his guard lowering as their once fearsome invaders were unraveling.

“No, I was surprised enough by Lapis’ abilities, but seeing two more? I don’t know what to make of it…” answered Pearl, still waiting for the fight to commence.

“Judging from that designation though, Lapis is rather old in the line. Actually, I don’t recall seeing any other Lapises on Homeworld…” muttered Peridot, silently wondering if she could catch them by surprise with another truck-door sneak attack.

“Very well then…” muttered the distraught Adamite, “If you refuse to side with us, we will give you a chance to flee while we collect our other objective.”

“No. I said I won’t stand by and let you hurt everyone and I meant it! I saw you attack Peridot and you are never doing that again while I’m around!”

And with that proclamation, all hell broke loose as Adamite and Cinnabar began their true assault on the Crystal Gems.

Steven’s shield was put to good use as the scarlet arsonist launched a torrent of fire right at him, though the heat was unbearable and his sandals were melting under the onslaught. It did serve as an adequate distraction as Garnet clocked Cinnabar across the face with a nasty punch with her gauntlets. Pearl followed soon after with a series of swipes with her spear that forced her opponent into dodging until she released a wave of flame that forced Pearl to dodge or get incinerated. Amethyst picked up the slack by roping Cinnabar with her whip as Peridot sent a barrage of metal shards from her failed attack at her while ensnared. Unfortunately, the group soon learned Amethyst’s whip was not fireproof as it crumbled into ash under her continued conflagration.

With a three-on-one battle in full swing, Steven and Peridot turned to Adamite while the main three continued their brawl with Cinnabar. As of now, Lapis was holding her own against the geokinetic gem. The two were trading blows on equal footing, even if it was clear Adamite had the advantage in experience versus the more pacifistic Lapis. Each volley of stones was met by a massive wall of water, a torrent made to surprise collided with a shield of sand that stopped the blow, and neither gem was gaining or losing ground. Seeing an opportunity to change the flow of battle, Peridot scanned the area for more possible ammo while Steven charged headfirst into the scuffle. He summoned his full bubble for extra protection and rolled even as rocks the size of his fist grazed the sides of his defenses. He pushed ahead until he literally rammed into Adamite, finally eliciting genuine shock from her, before she tumbled away in a heap. The young boy did not give her the chance to stand though, as he leapt above the air, focusing his floating powers to keep him off the ground, and readied another charge. Adamite tried summoning another sand barrier to stop the impact, but Steven blasted right through it and sent her sprawling again.

“I don’t understand!” screamed the frazzled Adamite, her calm eroding as Steven plowed through more shoddy sand walls, “You are clearly a human, but you have the powers of a gem?! What are you?! How are you so durable?!”

“My name is Steven Universe, a Crystal Gem and a kid really sick of people hurting my family! Now stop attacking Lapis, let my dad go, and LEAVE!” In his boasting, Steven had dropped his bubble and summoned a pair of pink gauntlets just like Garnet’s. Adamite braced herself and summoned a much thicker ring of sand to halt the blow, but Steven’s punch still made a massive crack in her defense. As the furious hybrid wailed on it with his armored fists, Lapis summoned a hand of water to flatten the gem inside. Under the combined weight of Lapis’ marine constructs and Steven’s punches, her attempts to reinforce it meant nothing and the wall came down, only to reveal nothing inside. The two of them plus an awestruck Peridot were ready to celebrate only for Adamite to reappear by the rock wall via tunneling.

“Heh…impressive.” She cracked a genuine smile for the first time years as she renewed her attack, forcing columns of stone to jut out from the cliff-side behind her.

While a new clash between the newer Crystal Gems emerged against Adamite, Cinnabar had to contend with the three longstanding members who were quickly seeing through her strategy of burn everything. She quickly learned that Garnet was constantly one step ahead of her, forcing the bellicose gem to change her tactics. She put all of her pyrokinetic tricks to the test as she summoned flames of every shape and size, even mimicking their three weapons to fight on a more even level. Unfortunately for her, the three of them were proving more than capable as their prowess and teamwork overwhelmed her. Every time she would dodge or outmaneuver one, another would be ready to strike.

After dozens of hits, Cinnabar was quickly losing her patience as she had to truly concentrate to avoid being poofed by her opponents. Now her agility was fatigue was setting in, forcing her to get desperate. She dodged another brutal punch from Garnet, but Pearl came and swept her off her feet with her spear. Amethyst was readying a blow with her above to force her into the sand, only for the flaming gem to get a truly diabolical idea. She sent a stream of fire straight towards the beach house where Greg had been watching the battle (mostly gaping as his son proved his own against such a tough adversary) and set it ablaze. Even with the moisture still in the boards from Lapis’ flood and the proximity to the ocean, it was ignited in seconds and soon blazed into a house fire with him at the center. This caught everyone’s attention and the fighting stopped instantly as Greg to find a way through the flames, but doubled over coughing and sweating from the smoke and heat.

“DAD!” Steven screamed in terror, his anger forgotten in a rush to save his father. Lapis readied a rush of water to stop the blaze, only for Adamite to step forward.

“Enough of this. It is obvious we cannot overpower you, so perhaps negotiations will be more effective. Now either hand over Rose Quartz or disclose her location. Otherwise the human you seem to care for will suffer.”

Lapis grimaced as she sent a torrent of ocean water forward, only for a massive wall of sand twice the size of the house to rise to block the attempt. Again and again Lapis tried putting out the fire, but every attempt was met with the same as Adamite shifted the wall to block every wave. All the while Greg was losing consciousness from the intense heat, made worse by the wall enclosing him in an oversized oven. The other gems considered rushing in, but figured Greg only had minutes. His body just could not handle such extreme conditions. Finally, as he heard father’s coughing stop in the inferno, Steven could not take it anymore.

“STOP! I’ll tell you if you just let him go!” He lowered his shield and stepped forward, looking Adamite in the eyes. The other gems were less than pleased with this.

“Steven Universe, don’t you DARE do this again!”

“No… No…Not again…”

“Dude, really?! There are better ways around this!”

“Please don’t do this Steven…We can’t let this happen again.”

“Well crud, does anyone have another pile of random junk so we can build a spaceship?”

He did not waver from their outcry and stood tall. “I am… Rose Quartz’s son.”

Both groups, friend and foe alike, were taken aback by his confession. While the Crystal Gems were grateful Steven was learning from his earlier mistakes, the newcomers were confused.

“Sun? You are her giant star in the sky?” asked Cinnabar, her head still swimming from taking one too many blows to the head.

“No, I’m...someone she cares for, a lot. If I’m gone, she’ll definitely come to look for me. She might even go back to Homeworld if it means I’m safe.”

“So you are offering yourself as a hostage?” inquired Adamite.

“Yes, but you can’t hurt me. If you do, Rose will be super mad and just fight you instead of surrendering. I don’t know when she’ll come back either, but as long as we stay on Earth it won’t be a problem for her to find us.” The stoic gem weighed her options and although she found it strange the boy was sweating profusely and staring at his gravity connectors the whole time, she could not come up with anything better and lowered the wall. She then pointed to Cinnabar who absorbed the flames, leaving a disoriented Greg mostly unharmed aside from his chafing wrists.

The five Crystal Gems were stupefied by what had occurred. They all wanted the fight to continue, but knew they could just put Greg in the same position if they resisted. Cinnabar and Adamite stood behind Steven and led him past his friends as he looked back and smiled, scared but hopeful that they could find him without too much trouble. He was led away from the beach and forced to walk past the borders of his hometown with no idea where these two would take him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, at least the kid's learning from his mistakes. Where will the gems lead him? How will the Crystal Gems get him back? And is something up with Garnet? Find out next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel fee to leave questions or concerns below.


	15. Search

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, the story continues! How will the Crystal Gems recover their precious teammate and how will Steven fare in the hands of our renegades! Continue below to find out!

Hours passed after the battle with the duo of rogue gems. The beach house was barely holding together, heavily burned now on top of the substantial water damage Lapis caused earlier. It was a miracle that the structure was still standing, but that was the last topic on their minds.

_“It’s all my fault…”_ thought Greg, sitting on the steps to their now ravaged house and rubbing his wrists that were cuffed, _“I couldn’t do anything but be a hostage. And now Steven…”_ He kept tearing up every time his son came to mind. He tried refocusing on something more positive yet between his only child missing, his only chance for finding them looking scattered and his home being razed, his spirits were fading fast.

Amethyst and Peridot shared a sense of dismay as they paced across the sand, grumbling how they could not stop their attackers. The former was more concerned with how she could totally have taken them if they had not pulled such a cheap move. The latter was more perplexed at how useless she felt during the confrontation and how her ferrokinesis, though much improved over time, still proved insufficient.

Pearl was drawing on years of experience. She was harnessing eons of knowledge gained from her career of facing untold perils and staggering opponents to win a battle in her mind. Said battle was not rushing off to spear the daylights out of those two renegade gems for attacking and kidnapping her precious Steven along with her entire team, putting Greg’s life in mortal danger and defacing her home. Since she had neither a proper plan nor confidence she could beat those two by herself, she resorted to dashing across the beach in a frenzy trying to formulate a one-gem battle plan. She considered this a solid compromise.

Lapis was bemoaning her failure at protecting her buddy despite all the boasting from earlier. She was especially embarrassed considering the scope of her abilities (A gem who can control any and all water losing a fight _while on a beach?!_ ) At least now she had a clear incentive to attend the Crystal Gems’ training sessions…which only brought up her earlier fiasco again making her more dejected.

Garnet was…sitting on the beach.

Her head, normally so prudent and sensible that it could lower even the harshest tempers, was a hurricane of conflicting thoughts and feelings. While she may have performed well in combat, she ultimately failed to see the larger threat of Greg being used as bait to lure Steven into a trap. She could have slipped away in countless ways, grabbed him at dozens of points during the fight, and brought him to safety or at least urged him to run in a multitude of fashions. But she saw nothing, too focused in the heat of battle to be proactive. Hindsight was quickly becoming her greatest enemy.

They all remained there, stewing in there failure and doubt, with one shared thought running through their heads: what were those two going to do Steven?

\---

Adamite and Cinnabar were pleased that their hostage was cooperating. He had yet to pull an escape attempt, had seemingly no desire to put up a fight (though Adamite would keep her distance if he pulled out those gauntlets again), and even offered suggestions to improve their progress as they traversed the wide open acres of the Delmarva countryside. One of his suggestions was a form of transportation called a ‘train’ to move faster, but Adamite shot it down upon seeing it since she figured such a large carrier could be easily tracked.

Even after that, though, Steven remained as upbeat as before, humming a tune to herself as the afternoon passed. Eventually, though, they were forced to stop when a mysterious rumbling caught the gems’ attention.

“What was that?” asked Cinnabar, upset that their peace was ruined.

“It’s nearby,” replied Adamite, “Keep your eyes on Rose, it could be those Crystal Gems coming to-“

“It’s just my stomach,” replied Steven, “Calm down, guys.”

His captors looked stumped at this, both pondering what a ‘stomach’ was and if it would become a recurring issue. They at least got the second part correct. Soon after the three wandered to a nearby field where some wild blueberries grew. After his fruitful snack, he dusted himself off and continued on as if nothing had changed, causing his two escorts to be more perplexed than they have been in centuries.

\---

Night was quickly approaching as the remaining Crystal Gems and Greg huddled together on the beach around Garnet who had not moved from her spot in hours. The six sat in the sand under the setting sun going from periods of exchanging ideas followed by long stretches of silence as a sense of defeat passed through them. Of all of them, Amethyst was the most determined to brush off their loss and try again.

“Come on guys! We need to get off our butts and chase after them!” she exclaimed, kicking up sand in her rush to stand, “The longer we sit here feeling sorry for ourselves, the harder they’ll be to track!”

“Amethyst,” groaned Pearl, “For the last time, we have zero indication of where they are going. For all we know, they have already… disposed of him.” Pearl swallowed a sob and continued. “Besides, if they are set of returning to Homeworld, they are most likely equipped to send him there.”

“I don’t think so,” said Lapis. Pearl was surprised to hear her speak up, but would take any second opinion to raise her spirits.

“I mean those guys were tough, but they weren’t planned for this at all. They just charged in and only had Greg because he happened to be here. If they had a formal plan, why not wait until Steven was asleep or by himself?”

“Yes, that does seem unusual,” confirmed Peridot, “They were baffled by Steven’s abilities, his appearance and insistently called him Rose. Combining that with a lack of any battle tactics or formal backup, I would guess this whole strategy was made very recently. With that in mind, this means they most likely have little to no means to contact Homeworld. It would be easier, however, if we had some information on them…”

All of them stared at Lapis. “I have no idea who they are! I swear, I never knew or worked with an Adamite or a Cinnabar! I was just as shocked as the rest of you!” she yelled.

“It’s okay Lapis,” reassured Pearl, “Judging from what they said, they knew you long ago. If I had to hazard a guess, maybe all that time you spent in the mirror caused some… damage?”

Lapis could only nod, totally lost on what else to do. Greg put a hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her.

“Lapis, I may have no clue how gems work outside of some basic stuff, but I would guess that spending thousands of years in a pane of glass would mess up anyone’s marbles. At least you turned out fine in the end, right? And I know Steven and the other gems here feel the same.”

The maritime gem gave a smile to him as the rest of the gems appreciated his optimism. All of them except Garnet who was completely silent throughout their extended meeting. None of them paid it any mind as they all assumed she was concentrating on finding Steven.

“Alright, now we are making progress!” cheered Pearl, “So we are fairly confident that they cannot leave and have a need for Steven to remain intact as long as his cover story holds. The question now is how will they try to reach Homeworld?”

Peridot followed with a theory of hers. “Seeing as humans have no reliable means of intergalactic communication, they will have to improvise a solution to their conundrum. My first guess would be something digital through the Internet or a sort of hijacking of some kind through cell phone towers that they could use to establish contact…”

“Wow, Peridot! When did you get so knowledgeable about cell phones?” asked Greg.

“When I was constructing our makeshift Internet hotspot for the barn, I first tapped into a bandwidth used for cell phones. I quickly moved on since it wasn’t what I was looking for, and I could not understand a thing people were saying over those things! Did humans develop an entire second language or set of code for those devices?! I mean, what the heck is a ‘selfie’ anyway?”

Amethyst calmed her down and promised she would explain later while the others wrestled with this theory. Amusing as her outbursts were, they all realized this meant they had no reliable way of tracking them since they seem to have no proper destination in mind.

“Wait a minute,” piped Greg, “What about Steven’s phone?”

Amethyst was confused by his question. “Uh Greg, I don’t think we can just call Steven. I doubt those two will let him tell us where they are…”

“I figure that, but what if we can track them through Steven’s phone? I know he still has it since those two made me call him on it to bring you all here.” The entire group lit up, Pearl even calling him brilliant, and ran off to work on their new plan. While they may not have a barn full of scraps anymore, they were all fired up to finally have a hope at getting Steven back. All except for Garnet, still seated at the same spot. She barely hear anything they said over the screaming in her head, yelling that this entire debacle was because of her.

\---

As the hours progressed, Steven was still being led by Adamite and Cinnabar with a remarkable sense of calm despite the situation he was in. He had been led away from the vast fields and farms into rockier terrain as they traveled west with his impounders only feet away. Out of those two, however, only Adamite was paying him any mind as Cinnabar was trying to hum the same melody Steven was currently doing to pass the time. Adamite was running on patience from this, but it also raised her curiosity.

“I don’t understand,” said the rugged gem.

“What, you mean what I did on the beach? It’s a long story, but-” started Steven before being cut off.

“Your abilities are intriguing, but they are not my primary concern. I am referring to your current attitude. Not too long ago you were enraged and attacking us, yet you willingly complied to come with us and are now perfectly cordial. Is this just how humans are?”

“Not really, all humans are different. I can’t say how every other person would act here.”

This caught the gems by surprise. Even after the millennia they spent away from the strict hierarchy from Homeworld, the thought of countless individuals of the same group possessing different attributes sent their heads spiraling.

Steven was also taken aback, but for different reasons. “I thought you two would know a little something about humans. You mean you’ve never talked to one?”

Adamite and Cinnabar shared the same dumbfounded expressions on their interchangeable faces. Neither one of them could come up with an adequate answer other than responses that boiled down to “What’s the point?” for the former and “I just never felt like it!” for the latter. With the sun setting, Steven insisted they make a quick stop so his steadily aching legs to heal.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you guys look dumb, it’s just weird to me you spent so much time here without talking to one person.” Both gems, for the nth time that day, were stunned by his continued tact and optimism. Here they were leading him off to who-knows-where away from his protectors, and he was still striking a polite conversation. Cinnabar in particular was almost feeling remorse for her actions, and this coming from a gem whose pastime is starting wildfires.

“That does remind me of something I wanted to ask you two,” the boy continued as they all sat on a flat patch among the hills, “How did you get here and how do you know Lapis?”

“We…were comrades alongside that Lapis Lazuli when the original gem colony was being established here by Pink Diamond,” answered Adamite, “It was one of dozens of missions the three of us were sent on by Blue Diamond.”

Cinnabar, spending more time in touch with reality in the past twenty-four hours than she had in the past twenty-four centuries, actually stepped in. “Uh Adamite, maybe we shouldn’t tell him this?”

“Even if he divulges our background to Rose Quartz, what harm could it bring? I will remain steadfast in my mission if she intends to sway my allegiance. Besides, this human has proven more than agreeable in being our hostage and positive reinforcement can be one way to ensure it stays as such.”

After offering an unsure thanks for the backhanded compliment (and mentally bracing himself for Connie’s reaction to him offering himself to an enemy AGAIN), he told a slightly modified story that Rose was enamored by his musician father and after years of bonding he came into existence through a process even he is not fully aware of. He conveniently left out his mother giving up her form for his, and then went on saying he was raised by both his father and the Crystal Gems. This left Adamite satisfied and Cinnabar actually excited at the prospect of seeing what else a human-gem hybrid could do. Alas, she had to quell the urge to test his abilities through a literal trial by fire since she remembered the condition that he must be unharmed. Adamite threatening on burying her from the neck up for several days was also effective.

And so Adamite explained how she, Lapis, and Cinnabar were sent to dozens of planets together as a sort of cleanup crew along with more of their own kind. After all organic life was wiped out by the armies of invading gems, they would step in to ready the planet for the construction of the colony proper. She then detailed how the Lapis Lazulis would move all bodies of liquid with their immense control of liquid, Adamites would adjust any differences in elevation with their power over all solid ground and Cinnabars would incinerate any remnants of the planet’s previous inhabitants with humongous swaths of flame. While they established that there were many other of the same gem in their brigade, they formed a sense of comradery among the three of them.

“Really? What made you all become friends?” asked an intrigued Steven.

“As you can most likely tell, Lapis Lazulis were never designed for combat and were rather meek and subservient. The Lapis you have met, however, was unusually outgoing for her kind. She would frequently prolong her tasks so she could observe the surroundings, but never enough to arouse suspicion. Eventually Cinnabar and I came to appreciate this unique approach and coerced with each other during missions. Over time we even requested that we be placed together on missions.”

“That sounds really nice. But if you guys worked so well together, how’d you get stuck here?”

“Since the Diamonds were unsure of how to approach your mother’s rebellion, they felt as though they were falling behind schedule on forming the colony. They sent the three of us specifically, thanks to our superior synergy, to inspect the planet to give a sort of prognosis for what needed to be done. But Lapis… her wanderlust got the better of her even though she was directly ordered to avoid straying off course due to the dangers involved.”

Steven put two and two together as he realized what had happened. He also noted how both gems in front of him dipped their heads, Cinnabar looking especially disheartened at remembering such a loss. He could even swear he heard the fiery gem trying to hold back sobs. “So…what happened after Lapis was…gone?” he dared to ask.

Adamite’s voice was noticeably shakier than before. “We were blamed for letting her wander off and be either captured or shattered by enemy forces. As punishment we were never recalled back to Homeworld and were essentially abandoned here. We… spent an absurd amount of time trying to locate her, but we found no trace of her. We…had to assume the worst and felt rather responsible for her disappearance.”

“But now we’ve found her!” interrupted Cinnabar, her voice also cracking, “Those Crystal Gems must have done something to her to make her forget us, but we’ll bring her back!”

As hope welled up in Cinnabar, Steven could not bring himself to mention how it was Homeworld that had her imprisoned in that mirror and interrogated her for so long. Adamite, however, resumed her usual demeanor and continued her explanation.

“And even if she has become a traitor, we have a duty to return to Homeworld to continue our mission. In order to get Homeworld to accept us, however, I figured that we would need a sufficient reason for them to reinstate us into their ranks after our failure-”

“And that’s why you want Rose Quartz,” finished Steven. Adamite nodded and stood once more, signaling her hostage and companion to do the same. Night had fallen during their lengthy discussion, but the young hybrid was not the least bit tired. He was too preoccupied with what to do with the glut of information he received. Now he was almost wishing the Crystal Gems would take longer to find him if it meant getting these two to open up more.

\---

Pearl and Peridot have many traits in common. They can both be incredibly neurotic, have a burgeoning interest in science and technology, have a tendency to go into long-winded rants when stressed or overexcited, and now they were both putting their skills to the test in order to construct a device that could track Steven’s phone signal to locate him and the rogue gems that captured him.

Although they ran into an issue being that without the barn, they did not have the massive stockpile of resources to use so they had to get creative. Namely, have Greg purchase several cheap cell phones from the nearby grocery store while Amethyst digs through her room to find whatever parts and materials they could use with Lapis assisting her in treasure hunting/sneaking off a few useful pieces she was more reluctant to part with.

Lapis wondered for hours how she got stuck with the most difficult job.

After the occasional blowup with both the unfinished device and a peeved Amethyst chasing after her favorite shinies, the duo of tech whizzes managed to construct a makeshift tracker. The only issue now was the two arguing how to best power the device.

“We can’t simply use these batteries!” said Pearl, “Such an intensive task could overload them and risk damaging the hardware! We need to build an exterior power source to avoid unnecessary risks!”

“We’re already short on time!” retorted Peridot, “Creating such an apparatus takes away time we could be using to get closer to Steven! The batteries are able to be easily recharged anyway and perfectly usable, so let’s use them!”

Greg, having fulfilled his role as the courier of cell phones, had his own idea. “Guys-”

“Steven’s ploy strictly forbade the two from injuring him or letting him suffer any serious damage! We have plenty of time and resources and we need to do this correctly!”

“Uh, ladies?” he attempted again.

“You do remember one of those gems is a pyromaniac who tried spearing me for her own amusement, right?! We need to finish this project as soon as possible to ensure she cannot harm Steven!”

“Guys!” he raised his voice at them, finally getting a word in edgewise. “What about Garnet?”

Both of the gems stared at him in confusion.

“She has electric powers, right? I mean she jump-started the van a long time ago, can’t she juice this up too?”

Both gems proceeded to slap their foreheads and groan loudly at their own shared oversight. Lapis, amused as she was by their bickering, walked over to Garnet to get her assistance.

“Hey Garnet, we could use your help with this. We need you to use your…” Lapis trailed off when the fusion did not even seem to acknowledge her presence. In fact, she seemed completely unaware of anything that was happening around her. She was still parked in the same spot from their previous meeting, gazing at the coming and going waves for hours with no change.

“Garnet?” Lapis poked the silent fusion to rouse her. Nothing. Greg and the other gems took notice and walked over to her.

“Yo Garnet, wake up!” shouted Amethyst in the approximate location of Garnet’s ear, “We need your zappy gloves to power Peri and Pearl’s nerd gadget!”

The fusion said nothing in response. All she could do was look out into the waves and struggle with her feelings of failure. It felt as though even the entire ocean was not enough to contain the loathing she felt for herself. She might even consider just letting it wash her away, let it take into a place where she could not fail her friends anymore.

And so she did, as her mind drifted off into unconsciousness and she fell flat on the sand as if all life was drained from her. The other Crystal Gems were horrified and tried lifting her off the sand, but her mass seemed to skyrocket forcing them to leave her in place. Without her, it was back to Pearl and Peridot’s debate on how to power their new contraption.

\---

As the unlikely trio of Steven, Adamite and Cinnabar continued on their journey through the hills of west Delmarva. All seemed to be fine as they marched on until Steven began to feel lightheaded. The gems paid him no mind at first until his pace slowed and ended up tripping over a large rock that sent him tumbling down a pit. Adamite quickly retrieved him, but he was out cold.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Cinnabar, “If he’s hurt, our mission is over!”

“Relax, he seems mostly unharmed. He withstood far more punishment during our battle earlier. Considering he is partially human he is most likely exhausted from the constant traveling. We are near our destination and have held up to his conditions, so we have no reason to withdraw.”

While Adamite considered tunneling the rest of the way to their destination, she figured the boy still needed air meaning they still could not travel at full speed. Nevertheless, she made a compromise as she formed a foot-tall rock emerge from the ground to carry her forward quickly while letting Steven rest on her strong shoulders. Cinnabar assumed her fireball form to keep up. As the two neared their destination, they both wondered what caused their detainee to suddenly collapse. And why they could hear him mumble to no one in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!* Not what you were expecting, huh? Even I've been excited to get to this for a long time now, so tune in next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below.


	16. Unlocking Garnet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now it is finally time to get to a chapter I've been imagining for months now...Yay!

Steven awoke to what was definitely the strangest sight in his life. Considering his fourteen years consisting of traversing fantastical locations, fighting corrupted alien soldiers, and living with a menagerie of such colorful personalities that made up the Crystal Gems nowadays, that was quite the accomplishment. Even still, this new scene had blown everything else away.

The sky was a mix of vibrant blue and red, mixing and shifting as if two pools of dye dancing around each other above his head. Splotches of purple would appear when the clouds touched and vanished once the respective colors separated. Despite there being no clouds in the sky, snow was still falling onto the ground which Steven curiously felt both and heat and cold emanating from it. The oddities continued to pile up as he noticed the snow was two different colors as well. Some flakes were pure white snow, but others were a harsh black. When he caught one on his finger in a daze, he noticed it crumbled instead of melting. The black flecks were ash raining down along with the snow.

He soon found his footing and gaped at the landscape around him. The ground was a chaotic mishmash of arctic and volcanic - glaciers of ice several stories tall sitting in pools of lava, streams of molten rock ran alongside frigid rivers filled with ice floes, beds of volcanic rocks were interspersed with large fields of picturesque snow. All the plants around him were pine trees that were either winter postcard-worthy loaded with green needles and white blankets or charred to a crisp with orange flames at the ends of branches. The temperature was surprisingly stable as the heat and cold created a pleasant warmth that his body relished for something familiar.

He tentatively took a step forward onto the field of blackened stones. They seemed stable enough so he stepped on, baffled at how he could end up in such a place. He muttered in amazement to no one in particular at the antithetical scenery. Nothing here made sense, it all should have fallen apart, but it somehow remained harmonious. Even the dancing colors of the sky moved as if their conflict was an enjoyable dance instead of anything threatening.

“Hello?” he spoke into the surreal space before him, wondering if this was all some grand hallucination.

“Steven,” spoke a familiar voice. The boy in question was taken aback even further.

“Garnet?! Where are you? What is this place?” As he continued wrapping his head around this phenomena, the fusion in question appeared in front of him looking just as confused as he was.

“This…is my mind.”

All at once, Steven was relieved and baffled at the same time. While he had gone into another person’s head before, he had never done it to one of the Crystal Gems. It also never led him into some sort of surreal landscape.

“Garnet, what’s going on? Why am I here?”

Garnet let out a morose chuckle and turned away from him. “I don’t know Steven. Again.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“I was supposed to be the leader of the Crystal Gems in your mother’s absence. For the most part I believed I was doing an adequate job until recently. All my recent decisions have either been wrong or failing to account for major events. Hard to keep your head up when the world keeps proving you wrong.”

As she chastised herself, Steven felt the ground beneath him shift and change. The glaciers were beginning to melt in the lava, the frosted trees began to burn, and massive vents of steam began erupting from the ground. The swirling colors in the sky began dancing faster, as if trying to smash into each other now with violent patches of violet appearing more frequently. He also noticed a real change in Garnet, all three of her eyes filled with regret and self-loathing.

“Garnet, calm down! I’m sure everything will be fine…” he tried to reassure her, but that only got a resentful chuckle out of her.

“Steven, it feels so off to hear you say that. Knowing everything is going to work out is supposed to be _my_ job. I am supposed to keep you secure, not the other way around.”

The geysers grew in height and intensity, the chilly water and scorching lava met and began to meet and cause masses of black rock to emerge like scars across the land around them.

“Garnet, stop it! Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself?!” He panicked as another steam vent emerged between his legs, but Garnet rushed forward to save him before he could be scalded. She did not know if he could be harmed in this place, but chose not to take the chance.

“See, you saved me! You don’t have to beat yourself up over every little thing!” As Garnet put him down on the snowy ground, she turned away from him.

“You’re right. I can see _little_ things. And a lot of good has come of that…” she snarled inwardly.

“Okay, I get that you feel bad, but-” He started, before she began literally pounding the ground with her gauntlets in a rage.

“I feel like a failure! That’s all I’ve done these past weeks is FAIL! I could have stopped it, ALL OF IT! But I didn’t!”

\---

Back in the realm of the conscious, Amethyst and Pearl dragged the now senseless Garnet by their juryrigged signal tracker where she remained completely still. Peridot, Lapis and Greg looked on in shock at the normally infallible gem left a husk of her former self.

Amethyst was taking her usual approach to handle this type of situation; slap it in the face.

“Garnet!” she yelled delivering another harsh smack to her face, “Snap out of it! We need your zappy hands to get Steven back!” Another smack, no response. “Gah! Come on, I thought you wanted Steven back!”

“Amethyst!” chastised Pearl, “I’m confident Garnet wants Steven back, but personally attacking her is not going to solve the problem!”

“Uh, maybe she’s just stressed from everything going on?” offered Greg.

Peridot stood over the unconscious fusion with an analyzing eye. “Perhaps, but considering her constitution, both physically and emotionally, I highly doubt this is the result of sporadic depression or exhaustion. My hypothesis would be this is the result of a large capacity of pent-up emotional baggage.”

“When did you get so good at reading people?” asked Amethyst, giving one last pat on the cheek for good measure.

“Soap operas. You’d be astonished how much foreshadowing can be created with facial expressions.”

Lapis, impressed by her barn-mate’s display of newfound prowess as she was, noticed a bizarre glowing from Garnet’s hands. She knelt down and opened her fists to find the two gems on her palms were emanating bright rays of light, red from her left hand and blue from her right. The rest of the crowd was shocked by this development.

“Uh Pearl, does this happen when gems get knocked out?”

Upon seeing this new development, Pearl reached a new threshold of stress. In the past twenty-four hours her peaceful day with her family had been dashed by two rogue elemental gems who abducted her pride and joy right in front of her, their de facto leader had fallen unconscious, she had created a new electronic signal tracker from spare parts and electronics in a few hours, and now this phenomena. Combining this with the bad taste left by that cursed tilt-a-whirl and Pearl reached a new point of stress. She simply let herself fall forward, standing perfectly straight, and let her face flop into the sand with her pointed nose dig in several inches.

“No Greg, this is not a common occurrence. I don’t know what to do about it,” she muttered from the sand, fully out of energy to raise a fit. At this point, she was relishing the cold sand getting into her nostrils and dirtying her clothes. At least that was something she could easily clean up later.

\---

Garnet finally stopped her outburst after several minutes. Each punch at the ground accelerated the rotting of her mental world. Crags of black volcanic rock were spreading like cancerous tendrils, eradicating the ethereal beauty the realm once had. Steam and black clouds had sprung up in the sky, now a sickly shade of purple as if both dancing colors merged and then became ill.

Steven, despite never being touched, could feel every hit as if they had collided with his soul. He had never imagined Garnet of all people could suffer so much confusion and regret. He stepped towards the fusion as she knelt on the ground, tears freely flowing from her eyes. He carefully placed a hand on her shoulders, desperately trying to relieve the pain radiating off of her.

“I don’t think you’re a failure…” he whispered, “Why do you think you are one?”

Instead of answering his question directly, the black and white clouds began collecting into a single gray mass above his head until they formed a screen. Steven watched as the events of the past several weeks played before him from Garnet’s perspective. First was the recent attack from Adamite and Cinnabar, the fusion fighting the fiery invader with all she had while trying to keep an eye on Steven trading blows with his mudslinging foe. When Cinnabar resorted to lighting the beach house on fire, Steven suddenly felt a weight drop in his stomach. He began mentally kicking himself and trying to find a solution, but nothing came to mind. Instead he watched himself offer himself to the intruders in exchange for Greg’s safety.

Garnet’s head dipped even lower as she felt the terrible feelings all over again.

As the memory concluded, Steven began hearing two voices arguing back and forth. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see the figures of Ruby and Sapphire standing in lava and snow respectively. They both shared a sense of responsibility, but for different reasons.

“How could I miss such a path?” asked Sapphire, her single eye practically popping out of her head in horror.

“It’s not that, I should have fought harder! I could’ve taken down that fire freak myself, but I didn’t!” screamed Ruby, literally slamming her head into the ground in anger.

“I should have known Steven could have handled himself… The odds of him getting hurt were slim,” Sapphire chastised herself again as icicles began appearing around the bottom of her dress.

“It’s those rotten gems’ fault! How could they just endanger someone like that?!” shouted Ruby as her feet began to ignite.

Back and forth the two went, Sapphire seeing so many other ways to change the future and Ruby blaming herself for not fighting hard enough or smart enough to stop the situation altogether. Either way, they felt equally responsible for their failure.

Steven stood in the middle of their continued screaming as Garnet was bowing before the screen which began playing a new memory; Steven’s capture by Aquamarine and Topaz.

The boy felt bile rise in his mouth as he watched Garnet remain silent as the smug nuisance and her stoic accomplice threatened the humans they captured, left all of them helpless to stop them and forcing Steven to play Spartacus to save his friends. Steven could literally feel his heart tear in two as he flew away into space, possibly out of the gems’ lives forever.

This only meant more screaming out of Ruby about those no-good Homeworld gems and more criticism from Sapphire about all the ways to avoid the catastrophe. Steven tried plugging his ears, but between the heartache of Garnet and both her components he began to feel his head pound and spirit failing.

The scenes continued, snatched from millennia Garnet has been together on Earth. Hundreds of failures swarmed her mind at once, pushing the fusion into depression. Steven tried to push the despair overwhelming his heart, but wondered if there was anything he could say to fix this.

\---

Adamite looked back as she rocketed up a steep hill with Steven still clinging to her back. His eyes remained closed, but his mumbling had stopped. He had also begun shedding small droplets of water from his vision spheres, causing her to debate if this was of concern. She quickly decided to continue on her way as their destination was only minutes away. Cinnabar continued rocketing behind her as a massive fireball, unaware of Steven’s current state and more concerned with getting the hang of that song their hostage was humming earlier.

\---

After several minutes of back and forth between the two science buffs, the Crystal Gems worked on an external power source for their tracker since Garnet was still out of commission. Pearl had thankfully recovered from her earlier collapse and, after sneezing several times to clear the sand from her nose, was carefully constructing the device with Peridot assisting her. Amethyst and Lapis were once again on collecting parts from the area, though this time Amethyst was much more open to parting with her collection of junk if it meant saving Steven.

That left Greg with nothing to do but keep an eye on the unmoving Garnet in case any new development happened. He used this time to pray that his son was still in one piece while also wishing he had some way to properly contribute to their efforts besides keeping vigil over an unconscious gem. Many uneventful minutes later the device was almost complete when Greg noticed something was wrong with Garnet’s gems.

“Hey guys, you know how her gems was glowing earlier? Well, now they’re not.”

Confused, the four remaining gems gathered to confirm that, indeed, the dazzling lights from her hands were fading at a rapid pace. While Amethyst and Greg brightened up and expected Garnet to return to consciousness, the other three pondered what this new development could mean. Their skepticism was earned when the light fully died down to reveal both her gems had lost all color.

The five were uneasy seeing this, none of them having ever seen a gem being drained of color. Said uneasiness quickly grew to full on panic when they saw Garnet’s left foot start fading into nothingness.

“What in the world?!” shouted Pearl, horrified by such a sight. Amethyst reached over and tried grabbing the space where her toe was, only to feel nothing but air. She considered redoubling her screaming efforts, but worried that might speed up the process.

“Okay, this is getting really weird! What do we do now?” asked Lapis, hugging herself out of fear that she would evaporate as well.

“Well… it appears to be a very gradual process. For all we know this could take several hours. In the meantime, we must continue our project in order to recover Steven.” Peridot tried putting on a brave face, but even she squirmed watching the scene before her. She had never wanted one of her hunches to be correct as right now otherwise their most powerful member might vanish into thin air at any second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would use the "dun-dun-dun" line again, but that might make me reDUNdant! HA HA! Tune in next time to see how all these plot lines resolve!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave comments or questions below.


	17. Fire and Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the unintentional part two of the chapter I drooled over writing. Yay!  
> Also, 3000 hits?! Dang!

It was almost midnight when Adamite and Cinnabar arrived with an unconscious Steven to a desolate plateau past the border of Delmarva. Their destination was an unsuspecting outcropping they discovered among their endless years wandering the world with nothing of interest but a single large stone slightly larger than the two gems. The stone was once an ornate artifact used in the days of the original gem war adorned with delicate carvings painted in vibrant hues, but have long since faded thanks to years of exposure to the elements.

“Keep an eye on him,” commanded Adamite as she lowered Steven to the ground. She had to focus her abilities is she wanted to restore something so decrepit without damaging it.

Cinnabar walked over to where their hybrid hostage was lying on the ground. The flow of water from his eyes had stopped, but he was shivering fiercely. For reasons she still did not fully understand, this made her upset. In only one day she had grown to care over some random boy they were supposed to kidnap and hold as there ticket back to their old life, yet he made their travel so much more entertaining. She placed a hand on his cheek and pumped a small amount of warmth. It ceased his quivering and brought an earnest smile to her face.

\---

As Greg watched four frenetic alien women try to finish a cell-phone locator in order to recover his son still in the clutches of two unknown gems that had powers equivalent to a certain cartoon he enjoyed, he realized how he rarely applied the millions he had practically. He could easily buy a house in full, yet he still lived in his van. He could even afford all the best insurance policies and upgrades to make it more comfortable, yet it remained the same when he was trying to sell CDs out of the back door as a wannabe rock star. He could also restart his musical career with all the experience he has gained and easily fund any expenses, but he kept those dreams behind him. As this night dragged on, however, Greg swore to himself there would be three items he would purchase that morning: A repaired beach house with his own room in it, some yoga lessons, and a coffee maker.

The first so he could finally watch his son in person (plus now he could actually hire _employees_ for his business, yet another novel concept that he realized he could afford now,) the second to control his stress and the third so the next time a rescue operation pushes into the dead of night he could stay awake.

 _“At least my stress is good for_ something _at this point,”_ he thought bitterly.

While Greg was preoccupied with financial planning and self-loathing, the gems were still bustling as their apparatus neared completion. Pearl and Peridot were carefully balancing speed and precision as they put on the final steps to make their device work while Amethyst and Lapis kept vigil over Garnet, the unconscious fusion now missing most of her legs which slowly disappeared into the ether.

After several hours of straight work, the two mechanical gems finally deemed their project complete. Amethyst and Lapis managed to take their eyes off of their comatose comrade along with a beatdown father and watched with bated breath as Pearl activated the tangled mess of wires, dissected cell phones and a tiny generator with a repurposed light switch. Within seconds the phones blared to life and sent out signals across the various satellites over the planet and after minutes which felt like eternity to the onlookers, Peridot’s tablet displayed a set of coordinates that revealed Steven was somewhere in the Adirondack Mountains bordering several states. After a quick round of cheers and remembering a warp pad was only a few miles from there, the Crystal Gems ran off to recover their beloved goofball. Greg stayed behind to watch over Garnet, grumbling that he was also getting life insurance after this was all said and done.

\---

As the two parties of gems rushed towards their goals, Steven and Garnet were still together in the fusion’s mindscape which was quickly unraveling at the seams. The surreal harmony of the volcanic winter was becoming a boiling maelstrom that was threatening to swallow both of their minds whole in a tidal wave of emotional strife. Fire and ice met in a steaming meltdown as plumes of magma and waves of freezing water battered the small circle of black rock holding the only denizens of this place. Somewhere in the midst of their mutual angst, Ruby and Sapphire fled and were nowhere to be seen.

The once proud Garnet, a guardian of Earth so unshakable that all but the greatest dangers fazed her. Now all of the pressure and turmoil she has experienced over five thousand years were threatening to crush her spirit and send her into oblivion.

As for Steven, he was desperately yelling for Garnet to snap out of her delusion as pain racked his entire body. His ability to connect with others seemed like a blessing most of the time, but now it was a horrible curse as Garnet’s crippling doubt and sorrow was wrecking his entire system. His throat was sore from the constant yelling and his tear ducts ran dry, but he kept his sight on his comrade as the sights and sounds of countless mistakes blared around him. All the torment and anguish he was suffering was unbearable, but he would not let Garnet fall victim to her own mind. He tried lifting his foot, but it felt like he was lifting a boulder. He forced his body to cooperate and managed to take the first step, refusing to let this suffering continue.

\---

The quartet of Amethyst, Lapis, Pearl and Peridot arrived in the Adirondack Mountains with the green tech whiz in front with her old tablet showing the coordinates of their target. Lapis took to the sky to scan the area for their enemies and any water she could use in the upcoming fight. The group may want a peaceful resolution to this whole mess, but all of them knew those two would not release their hostage willingly. With Lapis airborne and Peridot keeping focused on navigating, Pearl and Amethyst were left to their own devices as they closed the distance.

“So…How are you feeling?” asked Amethyst while scratching her neck in an awkward attempt to cut through the palpable tension.

“At this point I am so exhausted, a flying whale could drop out of the sky and even I would barely bat an eye. I just want this whole ordeal to be over.” Pearl had already brought out her spear in preparation.

“Heh, I could have used that when I spilled grape juice all over the couch. Would have saved a lot of squawking,” The purple jokester noticed her companion formed a smile for a split second and decided to continue.

“I mean, I wish it didn’t take Steven getting kidnapped to get you like this, but at least it won’t happen again. And he’s safe this time.”

Pearl stopped in her tracks hearing that. “I hope so…I just wonder how she would-”

“Pearl, stop. You know thinking like that is not helping.”

True to her word, the spindly swordswoman could not raise an objection and continued along the winding rocky trails, occasionally hopping over a crevice or moving an inconvenient hunk of rock along the way. According to Peridot, they were only a few thousand yards away.

“Good job with that cell phone tech-tracker. Smart idea.”

“Thanks. I’m more surprised Greg thought of it. I wonder how he’s taking all of this.”

Amethyst shrugged as they began to climb in silence with their green guide hopping on Pearl’s back as they ascended a steep cliff. They soon spotted their two targets with Cinnabar guarding Steven while Adamite was tampering with an odd cylindrical stone with a large hole missing from its center.

"What’s the earth chick doing?” asked Amethyst.

“I can’t tell from this distance, but that might be a large wailing stone she’s manipulating…Rose planted dozens of them during the war,” responded Pearl.

“Wow, you all had some real archaic technology back then,” commented Peridot, earning a stern glare from Pearl.

“Not that they weren’t effective!” backpedaled the minute techie, “I mean, even after millennia of exposure to erosion it’s still standing and I recall Lapis used a more compact one to contact you from Homeworld so it must have incredible signal strength!” Peridot chuckled nervously until the white gem stopped shooting daggers at her.

With her temper soothed, Pearl motioned the others to slowly approach the two making as little noise as possible. As both of them were preoccupied, the three made their way over and saw Adamite was indeed using her terrakinesis to slowly mend the cracks and faults in the ancient communication device. Due to how precise the process was, however, it was clear that even for her it would take hours to properly restore. As they were ready to launch a surprise attack on the two, Lapis flew back to the peak and landed in plain view of Cinnabar.

“Lapis?! What are you doing here?” sputtered the red rogue.

“I…came here to find Steven. Is he still okay?” Lapis noticed, much to her delight, that the boy did not have a scratch on him.

“He has been out for a long time now, but he’s fine otherwise. We’re not just giving him up, you know.”

Lapis sighed, already expecting that rebuttal. “How long are you going to keep him? He needs food and water to survive, you know.”

“He could be with us for a long time, but he’s been very cooperative so far. We’ll make sure he survives otherwise Rose Quartz will not surrender.”

“There’s just one thing I don’t get, though. Why do you two want to go back to Homeworld so badly?” Lapis sat next to her red doppelganger and placed a hand on the still resting Steven.

“Because we want to be useful again,” she answered as if it were the easiest question in the world, “Adamite and I can go back to doing missions to help the Diamonds!”

Lapis clinched her teeth hearing that, the pure eagerness in her voice sounding as painful as nails on a chalkboard.

“You know Cinnabar, I was back on Homeworld too. I flew all the way back there myself. And when I got there…” She noticed Adamite was glancing in her direction, awaiting her answer as well as the scarlet arsonist.

“They…forced me to come back here along with two other gems to be an informant for them.”

“That’s understandable, especially if you brought up the still-active rebellion on this planet,” stated Adamite as she resumed work on the wailing stone.

“Yeah, well, they also put me in a cell like a prisoner. And that’s not the first time they did this either…”

“What? Why would they do that? You didn’t say you were part of their group, right?” wondered Cinnabar.

“Because Homeworld doesn’t care about gems. If anything is not absolutely perfect to them, they throw it away! You know Peridot once talked to Yellow Diamond herself and told her about all the unique resources on Earth after staying here for so long? Yellow Diamond rejected it because she just wants the Earth to blow up!”

Adamite scoffed at that suggestion. “That is preposterous. A Diamond, of all gems, would never act in such an illogical, foolhardy manner when presented with a situation where she would have everything to gain and nothing to lose aside from some minor altercations with the Crystal Gems. I do not say this to demean your…compatriots, but a large-scale invasion would annihilate all of them in no time at all. She would know all of the risks and rewards involved, so why act so rashly?”

“Because the Diamonds are jerks! They don’t care about you, or any other gem!” Lapis shouted as she got into Adamite’s face and forced her to make eye contact. She noticed how her face, identical to her own in every way except expression, stared back at her with no emotion. “They want to blow this place up because they don’t _like_ it! They aren’t geniuses! They are overpowered children who are still whining and pouting because they didn’t get what they wanted! That gem war was thousands of years ago, and they are still sore losers over it even though it’s the _only_ time they’ve ever lost out of tens of thousands of planets! Why would you honestly want to work for them?!”

Instead of a proper answer, Adamite looked her blue counterpart in the eyes with an inkling of pity and a great deal of disappointment. Her thick arms pushed the scrawnier gem away with ease as she returned to her work.

“I am sorry for you Lapis Lazuli,” she muttered with her back turned, “You have truly lost your way. You are no longer the loyal partner I worked with for so long. Out of what respect I have left for you I will not force you to abandon this planet you have grown attached to, but I will not defend you or defy my Diamond when they inevitably come to shatter you for your insolence. I will give you one chance to flee now, but if we ever meet again I will act as a proper Homeworld gem and attack a traitor such as yourself. Now go while I resume my work.”

“I’m not leaving here without Steven!”

Cinnabar stood after watching their confrontation sitting down. Her hands were already igniting as she shared Adamite’s disappointment of seeing a long-time friend turn on her, but lacked any emotional subtlety and looked ready for a fight.

“You think we’re going to listen to you after that?! And besides, you’re here all by yourself with no water!”

“Wrong.” Lapis need not say more as a massive pool of water, enough to fill several actual pools, floated above her from several mountain streams and ponds to right above their heads, distorting the moonlight and covering them in shadow. The other three Crystal Gems, having watched the whole encounter in stunned silence, took their cue and rushed forward with Pearl and Amethyst jumping into battle while Peridot ran towards the unconscious Steven. Lapis caused tendrils of water and fly towards both her opponents, but Adamite tunneled behind her while Cinnabar turned them to steam with streams of flame.

\---

As their battle was beginning, though, another was being waged by the Steven Universe as he walked onwards towards the near-broken Garnet despite his body screaming for him to stop. Every inch he put between him and her caused throes of agony in every fiber of his being, but he refused to stop.

The mental landscape around them was still crumbling, the ring of black rock beneath them being the only land remaining as pools of molten lava and frigid water met in a violent storm. Snow and ash fell from the sickly violet sky in a black and white downpour that threatened to swallow everything.

“Garnet, please get up!” he pleaded ten feet away from her, “You can’t lose yourself now! We still need you!”

For the first time since her initial breakdown, Garnet spoke. “Why? So I can fail you again? Like I failed you, the Earth, Rose…”

“Garnet, you are not a failure! You have done your best to protect me and everyone else that matters!” he argued as he felt a second wind driving him forward. He blocked out the freezing flakes and burning ash falling in his face as he felt his chest warm up as his vigor returned.

“Look at me, Garnet! You’re getting upset about the past when you can’t do anything to change it! I get it, you feel you could have done better, but that’s not important now! What’s important is that we look forward, not backward!”

Garnet’s head rose and saw Steven staring into her eyes, amazed by the ferocity of his gaze. The blizzard around them started to subside and the steam began clearing away to reveal a ravaged series of black islets in a boiling ocean.

“Don’t beat yourself over it all, it won’t help with anything! You have so many incredible things in the past and you still can!”

The screen of clouds from before returned, only now above both of them, as practically every memory of Garnet played out in rapid succession. While many had her in the heat of battle, others were her just providing advice or being a reassuring presence in troubling times. For the first time in days, Garnet could feel her spirit lifting. As she rose, Ruby and Sapphire returned and stood behind her, holding hands as they remembered all the amazing accomplishments they have had together with the blue cyclops knowing for a fact that countless more could be on the horizon.

“Garnet, you told me that I shouldn’t worry about every little thing in the future and live my life! Now I’m asking you to do the same thing. Don’t worry about what might happen, but do your best to make it the future you want! We’ve been through a lot together, but we always got through it and we can do it again! I know that, and so does everyone else! That’s why we look up to you Garnet, so we can be in that great future with you!”

The fusion was beaming as she soaked in his words, the world around them reflecting her mood as the volcanic winter returned in all its surreal beauty. The red and blue resumed their ethereal dance above them and the majestic beauty of icy rivers and lava streams came into focus. The two managed to wave goodbye to each other before they began to fade back into the real world.

\---

Greg had briefly walked away to get a cup of coffee to force himself awake until his son came home and to continue watching over Garnet. The fusion was halfway to evaporating into nothingness, her legs barely visible and her hair had begun disappearing as well. Her gems were still gray and her eyes closed. Greg felt utterly powerless as he could not look at his house or else he would remember his part in those two gems kidnapping his son. If he looked down he saw a long-time friend of his slowly disappear into the ether with no way he could even slow it down. If he looked up towards the sky, he was reminded of how Homeworld had a death wish out for his son and the entire planet at large.

Just as Greg was about to give up and return to his van, the blinding lights from Garnet’s gems sprung to life with a vengeance. The drowsy dad was shocked right back into being fully awake as the red and blue lights spread from the fusion’s palms up her arms until it consumed her entire form. Once her whole body was reformed, her form shone with the intensity of a polychromatic sun as she was lifted off the sand and several inches into the air. In only a few seconds Garnet stood, reborn as if nothing had happened.

“Garnet?! What happened to you? What was that?” he began spouting, trying to wrap his mind over the lightshow he just witnessed, but the towering fusion wasted no time dashing straight towards the house. She literally broke down the door and hopped onto the warp pad, letting her future vision guide her to her Steven.

Greg looked on and, after what may have been the worst day of his life, passed out from all the hectic gem chaos around him.

\---

Steven awoke to find himself in the middle of a battle between Adamite and Cinnabar and the Crystal Gems minus Garnet. Amethyst and Peridot were currently contending with the scarlet-skinned arsonist who was bombarding the two with fireballs of every shape and size. From tiny embers made to upset their tactics to spheres large enough to engulf them, Cinnabar was frantically trying and failing to hit Amethyst who was spin-dashing and leaping out of every strike. The red gem stood between her and Steven with the obvious goal of protecting her hostage whom she had to admit was not bad company. Peridot was both loving and dreading her role as a distraction as she insulted and taunted Cinnabar to draw her literal fire away from Amethyst while she tried to ensnare her foe.

That left Adamite to content with Pearl and a very peeved Lapis Lazuli who was trying to pound her ex-comrade with globs of water from her massive reservoir. Adamite was forced to exert herself more than she had in centuries in order to avoid the watery missiles and contend with Pearl who was nimbly dodging and circling around every blockade and attack she summoned from below with her usual dexterity. Adamite was gradually being pushed away from the wailing stone and even with her tunneling ability, the onslaught would simply pick up where it left off.

Steven simply took it all in and debated with himself whether he should jump into the fray as well. On the one hand, these two rogues abducted him and had a clear loyalty to Homeworld meaning they would fall under the “bad guy” label. On the other hand, he had spent hours bonding with them and they clearly meant no harm to any innocents. Not only that, they made good on their promise to leave them unharmed when both of them could have easily ended him.

Eventually his decision was made for him as Adamite, realizing she was once again being overwhelmed by superior numbers, forced a ring of rock to rise around Steven up to his neck. Unlike her encounter with the ruby captain from earlier, though, the earth gem left it at that and made no plans to severely harm him unless necessary.

“That is enough,” she commanded, “We still have possession over your ally. Surrender now and we will ensure he is unharmed until we acquire Rose Quartz.”

“Hey, come on!” griped Amethyst, feeling an awful sense of déjà vu, “That’s not fair! First you almost roast his dad, now you’re going to bury him?! You two are sick!”

“Fair is irrelevant. We have a clear goal in mind to reunite ourselves with Homeworld so we may be of use to the Diamonds once again. This boy is a key bargaining chip so that we may convince Rose Quartz to surrender for her crimes and for our acceptance back into the Diamonds’ graces. We do not wish to harm him, but we will if you do not surrender immediately.”

As Adamite tried to prove her point by forcing the rock around Steven to tighten, a strange thud could be heard in the distance. The entire party, friend and foe alike, was caught off guard as the sound grew louder until a figure came into view bounding towards them, leaping dozens of feet into the air off of mountaintops and ridges of rock until it landed square in the middle of them all. After the dust from the impact settled, Garnet stood there as calm as could be.

“Garnet, you’re okay!” cheered Steven as the rest of the Crystal Gems stood dumbfounded at their de facto leader’s sudden recovery. Adamite and Cinnabar, on the other hand, were less than impressed.

“I was questioning why you were not here previously,” stated Adamite as she and her partner readied themselves for another round, “From Steven’s words I would assume you were incapacitated.”

“Pretty much,” replied Garnet, as frank as ever, “Now I’ll give you both one chance. Release Steven now or I will personally take you down.”

“Hah, really?!” boasted Cinnabar, “It took all of you Crystal Gems to beat us last time and even that didn’t work! And now you think you can beat us both yourself? Not going to happen!” To properly start the battle, the flame-throwing gem sent a fireball straight at Garnet’s face. The fusion responded by raising her left hand and catching it without so much as flinching. In only seconds the ball was fully extinguished in her grip.

(Begin Fight Music: Unfinished Battle from Xenoblade Chronicles)

As Cinnabar stood dumbfounded, Garnet let out a hearty chuckle. “Somehow…I knew you’d say that.”

The fusion took off like a rocket straight towards her red foe, summoning her gauntlets in a literal flash, but her fist punch was met by a wall of rock intercepting her fist. Garnet plowed right through the barrier and landed a hit straight to Cinnabar’s stupefied face.

“Hmph. Not bad, but you’re going to need more than that,” she taunted, even goading Adamite by beckoning her forward. The normally aloof gem forced her temper down as she levitated several dozen stones to fly at Garnet. Each one was dodged or deflected without a second’s delay much to Adamite’s bafflement.

Cinnabar tried to capitalize on the opportunity by blindsiding her from the back, both her hands engulfed in flame and ready to strike only to find Garnet’s foot sweeping under her legs forcing her to jump over her.

“What’s going on?!” yelled the scarlet arsonist as she got back on her feet, “It’s like she knows everything we do before we do it!”

“Heh, you’re not far off on that,” laughed Garnet before coming at the two again. The duo split up to throw her off and launched volley of stones and embers only for Garnet to leap out of harm’s way, forcing the elemental gems to dodge as well. While the two-on-one battle continued, the other Crystal Gems were amazed at what they were beholding.

“Dang, Garnet’s rocking those chumps! She must have had a really good nap!” cheered Amethyst, elated to see such a masterful butt-kicking.

“Indeed, her bravado seems fully restored but how?” questioned Pearl, “It’s as if her being unconscious revitalized her. Any ideas Peridot?”

“At this point, I am merely grateful this debacle is over. We can analyze this situation later!” The diminutive engineer was too swept up in the excitement about finally seeing these two getting their comeuppance to give properly answer.

Garnet’s opponents, however, were only feeling frustrated at how one gem was making a mockery of them. Adamite was trying every formation and tactic she could think of, even trying to blindside her larger opponent, but Garnet shrugged off almost everything she threw at her. Her compatriot was doing even worse as Cinnabar was futilely throwing everything she had at Garnet only for it to be dodged or completely pointless. Her rage was growing with every missed shot and her pointed hair was literally smoking in anger.

After several dozen more shots missed their tall yet surprisingly limber target, the arsonist gem was at her wit’s end. She had to face the reality that her pyrokinesis was not affecting Garnet in the least. Her eyes gradually moved to the assembly of gems still watching the brawl in awe. She could see Steven was still off the side, not having moved an inch since the fighting started. With no hesitation, she opened both her palms and summoned the largest column of fire she could muster, enough to swallow all four gems whole and then some. She did not care anymore, not even Adamite could talk her out of it. The immense stream of fire was only seconds away from the gems, all of them turning to face the oncoming inferno in horror. All of them were frozen to the spot, some already wincing from how much it would hurt, others deducing how much heat her gemstone could take before literally melting. Steven was about to cry in agony, half ready to leap into the flame’s path to stop it with his shield and talk Cinnabar down. Anything to save his family from being incinerated…

…Then the flames just stopped. In mid-air. Still hot and perfectly capable of scorching, but completely still. Even Adamite’s jaw dropped at this spectacular defiance of physics.

Everyone gradually turned to see Garnet extending her left hand, a confident smile plastered on her face. She willed the fire to move towards her and slowly the flames entered the ruby in her palm. The two could have taken the opportunity to attack, but she was mostly certain her opponents were too shocked by the revelation to take advantage of her spectacle. Neither rogue elemental moved as the fire was slowly consumed in its entirety, leaving only some overheated terrain as proof it had ever existed.

Silence reigned for several seconds, the only sounds being those of any wildlife on nearby mountaintops and a gentle night wind. Then Adamite, all her confidence and analytical nature gone, dropped to her muscular knees in awe.

“H-H-How…?” was the only word she could utter.

“What, your friend isn’t the only fire manipulator out there,” Garnet replied conversationally, “I can do it too.”

Holding out her hand once again, she pushed out her own geyser of fire straight from her palm. It may not have been anywhere near as large as Cinnabar’s from before, but it was hot and fast enough to sweep the dazed Adamite away, screaming in shock and pain as the flames sent her flying into a nearby peak where she stopped with a harsh crash before sliding down like a rag-doll.

Having witnessed her most defining power being rendered completely useless and her partner being taken down so easily, Cinnabar made the most logical move at this point; run for her life.

She did not make it far, however, as Garnet had another new trick up her sleeve. She opened her right hand and from her sapphire flew an icy wind. In only seconds it caught up to the fleeing gem and left her frozen solid. Satisfied that the strenuous work was all done, Garnet strolled up while whistling a certain tune she taught another fusion months ago. She calmly walked around to the front where an utterly terrified Cinnabar was too consumed with terror to try thawing herself out. She was more concerned that Garnet had her gauntlets put away for the first time in the whole battle.

“Hey Cinnabar,” she asked casually. With her mouth frozen, Cinnabar could only reply with an unsure “Uh-huh?”

“You lost,” the fusion stated blankly. The frozen gem answered with a second, more downtrodden “Uh-huh.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to shatter you.” A relieved sigh came from the gem turned ice-sculpture.

“But I am going to bubble you.” She summoned her right gauntlet and wound up her punch as Cinnabar let out several terrified squeaks, hoping that would make her hesitate. Her cries fell on deaf ears as Garnet rammed a harsh punch right into Cinnabar’s chest. With the numbing cold and intense pain of the blow proving too much for her form, she was reduced to a circular red gemstone now sitting in a pile of ice shards. The fusion made good on her promise to keep her whole and stored in a translucent red bubble. She sent it back to the temple with a flick of her hand before calmly leaping to a lower peak where Adamite was still recovering from her flash frying.

The green hijacker was still splayed out in agony on the nearest cliff where she crashed after being blasted by Garnet’s fire blast, her long head of pale yellow hair charred by the blast. While she may not have any skin, her entire form was in burning pain. She was only barely keeping her eyes open and when she spotted Garnet strolling towards her, she desperately tried using her powers. She managed to move a pebble a few inches before Garnet reached her and hefted her up by her broad shoulders.

“Hello there.” There was no malice in her voice, but the tight grip on Adamite’s shoulders let her know she intended to hurt her.

“You displayed…none of these abilities when we first fought,” coughed Adamite with the last of her energy, “How…did you develop entirely new abilities in such little time?”

“Because of something you should have learned after all the time you spent on Earth. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet.”

Adamite could not bear to speak an answer so Garnet replied for her.

“We are full of surprises. Especially when one of our own is in danger…” she let a trace of venom enter her voice as both her hands lit up with electricity. Adamite let out one last pained scream as thousands of volt racked her form before she finally could not stand anymore and retreated into her gem. Garnet quickly bubbled the pentagonal green stone and sent it back to the temple.

With all the chaos said and done, the confident fusion leaped back to the others who were still rooted to the same spot. Before the others could ask her any questions, Garnet made her way to Steven who looked at her in awe and wonder. She kneeled down to his level and gave him the biggest hug she could muster without harming him and whispered a heartfelt thank you into his ear for what he had done for her. The youth merely hugged her back and fell into her arms as hours of constant travel and his immersive trip into Garnet’s mind caught up with him and fell asleep instantly. The fusion happily carried him home with the other four gems still following behind, all eager for some normalcy in their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so another story arc draws to a close. So now where do we go from here? Tune in next to find out!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	18. Rebuild

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news, everyone is back together! Bad news, this story is still going so more crap is bound to come.

With Adamite and Cinnabar safely contained in the temple with hundreds of other bubbled gems, Steven and his family could finally focus on something besides imminent danger. Most notably, the fact that the beach house was well-beyond repair. With the damage from Cinnabar’s fire on top of Lapis’ flooding, the crew said it was a miracle the structure was still standing. They were also perplexed how the front door was ripped clean off its hinges, but that remained a topic for water-cooler conversations since that was the least of the house’s problems.

Steven missed most of the major reconstruction as he spent almost a full-day asleep once he was rescued. The Crystal Gems and Greg were merely grateful to have him back and let him snooze away in his caterpillar sleeping bag in the back of Greg’s van. As long as he was in their sight, they were fine if he did not wake up for days.

It might have been for the best, though, as the majority of the day he was asleep involved moving all of his personal belongings out of his thankfully undamaged room and demolishing what was left of his home. Greg was relieved to hear insurance would help cover the costs (though he did omit how the damage was done by two alien women to avoid a massive headache), he was still disappointed to see the home he and the gems built so long ago fall apart. What little cynicism he had in him believed it would fall eventually due to the Crystal Gems’ activities, but he wished it did not have to involve his son being put in mortal danger.

When Steven rose at sunrise the next day, he saw all of his belongings sitting in a pile near the edge of a cliff. Aside from his bed and television, all of them were perfectly packed into boxes and bins by Pearl. The motherly gem, along with some young, burly movers, were hauling everything into a nearby truck to be put in Greg’s storage locker in town until their new abode was complete.

Once that was done and everything salvageable was removed, Garnet and Amethyst began “assisting” the demolition crew. This meant Garnet giving the purple wild-child full reign to tear the house to the ground. As Amethyst bashed and smashed everything in sight, Garnet was ensuring no collateral damage would occur by standing guard over Greg and crew members who were now standing idly by as their job was being done for them. Aside from the occasional stray piece of rubble flying at them, this was the easiest job they have ever had.

That left Peridot and Lapis Lazuli simply enjoying the pleasant morning on the beach. The former barn-mates were soaking in the sun though Lapis was also casually shaping the water into various shapes to gain a more intricate control over her powers. While her confrontation with Adamite had shaken off any ennui left over from her nightmare, she now had a desire to improve her abilities in order to better fight off any threats to her new friends. While her making water cubes and pyramids was intriguing, Peridot was doing so more to fight her itch to analyze Garnet’s new abilities. While she had herself discovered a new power inside of her, her investigative mind was going wild at the thought of being able to bring out new abilities out on a whim. Also, Greg had recently gotten the bill from Funland about the broken pinball machine and was currently giving her the stink eye. She would rather save that confrontation for later.

As the house literally came crashing down thanks to Amethyst’s wrestling maneuvers, they began collecting the debris along with the professionals. Greg took the opportunity to walk over to his awakened son and welcome him back to the world.

“Hey Schtu-ball! Glad to see you finally back! How do you feel?”

“A little weirded out…” he replied as he crawled out of his sleeping bag. While he was glad to be back among loved ones, he was not sure how to feel about those two being stuck in bubbles.

“Steven!” cheered Pearl as she spotted him cognizant once more, “Thank goodness! I hope you don’t mind all of the changes we have going on, but I’m afraid the house is beyond repair. Now that you are here, let’s get you fixed up!”

Steven was confused at this, only for the necessities he neglected on his unintended road trip to pile on. He caught a whiff of himself after not showering for two days, felt his stomach roar upon not being properly fed for so long and he desperately needed a bathroom. After taking a quick leak in the ocean, something even Pearl could not fault him for after all that has happened, the three took off for somewhere he could be washed and fed - the Mahesweran household.

\---

One quick drive across town later and Steven was greeted by Doug, Priyanka, and a very relieved Connie. As much as his bespectacled buddy wanted to hug him, his odor made her keep a safe distance. She led him upstairs to their bathroom where he relished in the hot water and fragrant body wash. As he stepped out, he breather in relief as he dressed in a pair of clothes Pearl set aside for him. Once he was dressed and no longer smelled like he took a day-long trek through the mountains he went downstairs to where the parents of the house treated to him a plate of pancakes and fruit salad to fill his eager stomach. After offering his sincere thanks for their hospitality, he found all of the Crystal Gems crowded into the living room along with Greg and Connie ready to clear the air about what exactly happened with those two.

After several minutes of explaining himself, Steven apprehensively looked at Connie who had gone completely still since he mentioned his ploy to get Adamite and Cinnabar to leave his father unharmed.

“Steven…” she grumbled as she walked next to him, “I thought we talked about this…”

In only seconds she stood a few inches from him with their respective parents and the gems standing around them in a circle. Steven was praying to himself that someone would step in case she got too agitated.

It came as quite a surprise when she wrapped her arms around him, any malice she may have had gone, and silently shed a tear when he returned her affection.

“I’m just glad you’re okay…” she whispered, as everyone around them breathed a sigh of relief. Greg and the Maheswerans were particularly moved at seeing their children embrace and each began to wonder (or dread in Doug’s case) if it was time to have that special talk with their kids about certain changes.

Eventually the two broke up their display and moved to the large floral couch along the wall. Doug and Priyanka stayed inside the entrance to the kitchen while Greg leaned on the front door leaving the five gems to form a circle as Garnet began an unofficial meeting to discuss what to do now.

“Alright, now that those two are put away and Steven is safe, you have all been caught up on what had happened.”

“Yeah, and I can’t believe those two dragged you all the way into the mountains to call Homeworld,” grumbled Lapis, “At least they kept their promise to keep him okay.”

“From a logical standpoint, they had every reason to acquiesce,” explained Peridot, “Steven kept them in the dark about the real whereabouts of Rose Quartz and manipulated their limited knowledge to his benefit. Frankly, I am more surprised he devised such a ruse by himself.”

“Yeah, Steven’s a spy now! With super gem-enhancing powers!” cheered Amethyst, causing the young boy in question to blush.

“Yes, it appears so,” mused Pearl, “Once the house is rebuilt, it’s vital we watch over him more to see if any other new abilities show up. Plus, he still needs to learn how to use our respective weapons properly.”

“If you guys want to do that, you could use the space where the barn used to be,” said Greg, “I mean, the building might be trashed, but my family still owns the land. Consider it your own personal training ground.”

“Thanks, Greg. At least there’s nothing there to trash anymore!” joked Amethyst as she hung upside-down from the arm of the couch. While Lapis blushed at that thought, the others were all in high spirits. The group offered one last round of thanks to Connie’s family for their generosity and took off in Greg’s van with Steven up front and all the gems crammed in the back sans Lapis who flew behind them.

“Connie, are you sure you’re alright?” Doug asked his daughter as she stood at the window for several minutes after the van left their street.

“Dad, I’ll be honest, I got really scared again. Steven may have kept himself safe, but what if next time this happens he isn’t so lucky? What if he gets really hurt or worse?”

“Then he has a solid group behind him to look after him,” reassured Priyanka as she placing a hand on her shoulder, “Including a best friend who will risk everything for him.” That brought a smile to Connie’s face.

“But if you throw yourself into danger like that, young lady, you’ll be in serious trouble!” And with that terrifying thought in her mind, Connie ran upstairs to do more schoolwork.

\---

That afternoon, Greg and all of the gems minus Garnet made their way to the plot of land formally housing the DeMayo storage barn-turned alien refuge. Their first order of business was to clean up the debris off the structure and the two alien ships Lapis crushed. While Peridot was upset seeing her old home demolished, she gladly ogled any piece of gem tech that could be used for later. Lapis kept Pumpkin company as the poor gourd was deeply shaken by the events of the past few day. Steven was glad to see him out and about after spending several days under his bed, terrified by the flooding and house catching fire.

After several hours of moving rubble, salvaging _Camp Pining Hearts_ tapes, Pumpkin scampering around, and Amethyst calling dibs on bits and bobs she saw fit for her ever-growing collection, all that remained of the barn was the large pool Peridot made out of the tunnel from the Cluster mission.

As the sun was beginning to set, Greg hung up his phone. “Alright, I just got off the phone with the cleanup crew. They’ll be here around noon tomorrow to haul the rest away.”

“Excellent, Greg,” complimented Pearl, “Your assistance is greatly appreciated.”

“Well, someone has to clean up these messes, right?” the father chuckled. He tried to play it off as a joke, but they could still hear a trace of sadness in his voice.

“Dad, are you alright?” asked Steven.

“Yeah, it’s nothing major, Schtu-ball. Glad to help any way I can…” Steven could tell something was bugging his father, but felt no reason to pry and simply walked off to resume the sorting of rubble from anything salvageable.

The process continued until night came and Steven was yawning profusely. Since the Maheswerans offered the boy their couch as long as their house was being constructed, Steven and Greg drove off to resume their work in the morning. After another hearty breakfast with Connie’s family, the Universes returned to the pasture to find the gems all assembled with Garnet back from whatever she was working on in the temple.

“Hey Garnet,” greeted Greg, “What’s up?”

“I discovered something and I needed all of you to hear it,” she replied, as frank as ever.

“She would not give any specifics until you two arrived,” grumbled Peridot, her patience being tested as she wanted to get her hands on any new information, “Apparently, breakfast is a luxury she thought you could afford.”

“Chill out, Peri, you don’t know how good a morning is until you scarf down some cereal and orange juice first thing in the morning,” smirked Amethyst, clearly having the same craving.

“Besides that, it is a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle as it promotes a healthy metabolism. Steven needs it to be at his best,” said Pearl.

“How do you know so much about food if you don’t eat?” asked Lapis.

Pearl shifted her eyes from side to side before quietly answering with “Books. That’s it.”

“…After some trial and error…” Amethyst whispered to the blue gem.

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW HE COULDN’T EAT THE BOX?!” shouted Pearl, remembering a particularly embarrassing moment from Steven’s infancy.

“Alright, enough of that,” said Garnet, quietly laughing at the memory herself, “The reason I brought you all here is to create a plan for Steven’s training. We need to create a set schedule for what he needs to learn to be an effective fighter and when to learn it.”

“Ooh, I’ll print out the schedule once everything is finalized! And I can teach him all sorts of battle tactics!” exclaimed Pearl, raising her hand like an overly giddy student in school answering the teacher.

“There’s a good start. Aside from teaching him how to wield our different weapons, he needs to learn how to hold his own in battle in case he is isolated from us or we are taken down.”

“Whoa, why is this coming up now?” asked Lapis, not liking how serious the fusion was being, “Is something bad gonna happen?”

“Yeah, right!” scoffed Amethyst, “Garnet’s just being careful. It’s not like the Diamonds are coming to invade…” she started to laugh at her own joke, but Garnet sucked in a breath through teeth. She was hoping to save that for the end of the meeting, but she might as well tell them.

“About that, I also had a vision last night…”

\---

Yellow Diamond was not having a good day. By all means, she should have been. Two new planets were deemed sufficient for gem colonization, several planets were being assimilated successfully, about thirty off-colors were found and shattered, and she was planning to have a new mural designed in her visage. Even with all that progress, though, the thorn that was Rose Quartz was still fresh in her mind. There was still no word from the ruby scouts they sent out to that solar system. She figured to be on the safe side and scour every planet around Earth in case the traitor made refuges or hideouts in case this kind of attention came her way. Despite the countless resources at her disposal, Yellow Diamond had no idea where that gem was and that bothered her to no end.

As she was overseeing the modifications one of the new planets would need, Yellow Pearl ran in completely out of breath.

“My Diamond! I have an urgent message for you!” she said breathily, though she never once broke her salute.

“Pearl, what is so urgent you had to barge in here and disturb my work?” she asked, not even looking down at her personal servant.

“It concerns Rose Quartz. I assumed your order about this being on a need-to-know basis still applies.”

“Correct. Have you ascertained her exact location?”

“Yes, my Diamond. We received a transmission some time ago from Earth that told us Rose Quartz is still on the planet.”

“You are telling me you received this transmission multiple cycles ago, correct?” Her pearl gave a nervous nod. “So why are you only bringing this to my attention now?” She turned her head and glared down at her servant.

“B-Because, my illustrious Diamond, we had to d-decipher it as it was sent by a very archaic, o-outdated method of communication. A wailing stone, to be s-sp-specific.”

This actually caught the monarch’s curiosity. She fully turned and faced her stuttering underling, silently motioning her to get up and stop groveling.

“You oversaw the translation of this message yourself, I take it?”

“Absolutely, my Diamond! I had a physical copy made that only you can activate!” She manifested a prism similar to a Diamond communicator that was colored a pale yellow. Yellow was pleased with the result and held the prism in her massive hand.

“Very well, Pearl. Inform me of any other suspicious transmissions. That will be all.” After another salute (And laughing about some bothersome agate who was in line to be shattered thanks to her,) the colossal gem opened a line to Blue Diamond. The somber monarch was on another planet, trying to straighten out some resource issues on a colony of hers.

“Yes, Yellow?” asked Blue, melancholy as ever.

“I have information concerning Rose Quartz. It seemed proper that you be involved.” The cerulean gem, for once, was able to focus on something besides her grief. With a small turn of the prism, a voice began playing out with surprising clarity given the archaic method of communication.

“Attention, any and all active Homeworld channels. I am Adamite Facet 2G3E Cut 8XW, member of Terraforming Brigade 7-Delta. I am currently located on the planet known as Earth and have information about the leader of the rebellion, Rose Quartz. My partner and I have managed to take an affiliate of Rose Quartz hostage and we are currently holding him in order to lure the rebel leader to us. The hostage claims that Rose Quartz will come to barter for his safety and surrender herself to us. Once we have her, we plan to give you custody of Rose Quartz so she may be punished for her crimes. All we ask for in exchange is being reinstated into the ranks of Homeworld so we may continue our service to the Diamonds as soon as possible. I cannot send exact coordinates due to the restrictions of the communication device, however I am confident the Diamonds can deduce the location of Earth. That will be all.”

Both Diamonds stood silently for several minutes before Blue felt that same fury from the botched execution of Rose Quartz. “So how many platoons should I send to Earth?”

“Relax,” soothed Yellow, getting rather irritated by her counterpart’s rage flaring up every time this issue came up, “We will most definitely send a strike force, but we must not be too wasteful. Rose Quartz and her miniscule rebellion do not necessitate an armada of troops.”

For once, Blue Diamond did not fall back into depression and kept her head up. “But we must take immediate action. If Rose can leave Homeworld so quickly, we must take advantage of this opportunity.”

“I agree on that,” conceded Yellow, “I will send out the order to deploy several ships for Earth.” Just as she was about to end the call, she noticed her fellow Diamond revert to her usual dejected self. If this fiasco had any upside, it was getting that sorry case out of her constant mourning.

“If it puts you at ease, I will allow the attacking force to be headed by a gem from your court.”

“Thank you, Yellow. It is much appreciated.” The gentler Diamond gave a rare, genuine smile as the call ended, already having an idea on who to send for this mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we finally catch up with the Diamonds... Five months after that prologue. Time flies when you keep throwing in new ideas like that. Also college. Until next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	19. Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now we have a hostile alien invasion. Time to prepare another story arc!

The Crystal Gems, all things considered, were handling the news fairly well. Garnet, naturally, was not pleased with having to drop such a bombshell on everyone, but knew it had to come out sometime.

Peridot was cradling Pumpkin, who was close to panicking from the news, and petting him in order to calm his rampant barking and whimpering.

Pearl was clutching her head, trying to decide between making the first draft of a proper plan and merely keeping herself from having an episode in front of Steven.

Lapis was flying above them in circles, muttering to herself about how she could possibly get out of this one without something terrible happening to her or her friends.

Amethyst was, of all things, completely silent. She just plopped on the ground and was currently looking at the grass with her eyes as open as she could get them.

Steven was trying to keep his head up as his father crushed him in a bear hug, as if his hugs would somehow shield his son from the forces coming for him.

“Guys! Calm down!” shouted Steven, grabbing everyone’s attention, “We’ve been through worse, right? And besides, it’s not ALL of Homeworld coming, right Garnet?”

“From what I could tell, it was only a couple ships, but that could mean dozens of invaders. We do not want to underestimate them,” the fusion replied.

“Take it from someone who was on board those vessels,” added Peridot, her voice wavering, “Even a small number of ships can mean a severe issue. You saw what a bunch of rubies were capable of, and these could contain the more advanced soldiers with actual tacticians to guide and support gems like me to supply them.”

Greg hugged his son tighter and Lapis began flying faster, the tone growing bleaker until Pearl straightened up and put her foot down.

“Peridot, I know you mean well and I appreciate your input, but take it from someone who HAD all of Homeworld after her, a few ships is nothing.” The eloquent gem had a fire in her eyes that startled them all, a look that screamed defiance.

“I was told from the beginning that fighting for Earth would be an uphill battle. Rose gave me one chance to back down, but I followed her straight into what everyone thought was impossible. I was close to death hundreds of times, I was surrounded constantly by enemies, and I watched several of my closest comrades be shattered before my eyes. And yet here I am. They will assume we are not be a threat because of our smaller numbers, and just like last time, their arrogance will be their downfall! We may not have the resources, but we have a drive they will never have! A drive to protect what’s important to _us_ , not some overbearing dictator! They thought I was only a servant, a disposable toy! They didn’t think that as I cut down their ‘soldiers’ by the dozen! If a scrawny, singular plaything like me can bring dread to the Diamonds themselves, then you all can be the monsters that haunt them for eternity!”

She drew her spear and pointed it to the heavens as the others stared in awe at the raw confidence Pearl exuded.

“This planet is a testament to their failure! The Diamonds, as much as they think otherwise, are _not_ perfect. They have failed once, and I say they will fail again! If they want Steven, they will only get him after they’ve reduced me to dust! I will personally topple Yellow and Blue Diamond myself if it means keeping Steven and the rest of you safe! I will never let them have their way with me, my family, or this planet! Now, who here still thinks a few ships is a threat?!”

The others were speechless. Greg had finally let go of his son and actually looked relaxed. He believed every word she said. Steven had his signature stars in his eyes, moved to his core by her words. The actual gems were amazed at her speech, even Garnet was shocked by her confidence.

“Well,” the fusion remarked, “Glad to see that lightened everyone up.”

Hearing that, Pearl put away her spear and her cheeks turned blue. She simply clasped her hands behind her back and laughed, embarrassed at her own dramatics, and stood beside Garnet. The rest of their meeting was them going over a proper training regimen for Steven and his new abilities. Even still, they all knew the upcoming conflict would not be an easy one. Once they dispersed, Amethyst remained seated on the grass, not even taking the opportunity to mock Pearl for her sudden shyness after her earlier demonstration. While she no longer gazed at the ground like she was trying to burrow into it with her eyeballs, a sense of dread still clung to her.

“Amethyst, what’s up?” asked Steven, noticing the violet gem lost in thought, “Are you alright?”

The purple rabble-rouser finally lifted her eyes, noticing everyone else was gone. “Uh… Yeah, I’m totally fine. You know I space out when Pearl’s being all orderly and junk.” She gave him a smug grin, but as he started to walk away it quickly faded. She actually listened to everything Pearl said for once. And for once she wanted to take what she said about not being intimidated to heart.

\---

For the next week, Steven Universe’s life became a constant stream of training and education. He almost wondered if this was somewhat like Connie’s schooling, minus the sword fighting and target practice, but was quickly snapped out of it by whatever task he was doing. Each one of the gems found a way to train him.

Amethyst was showing the art of unpredictability and became one constant reminder of how the element of surprise was your best friend in battle. One minute she would just be talking with Steven, a perfectly normal conversation with the two laughing and chumming it up, then she would rush him or start running after him with the intent to give him a wedgie. This worked wonders for his speed and stamina. Outside of that, she enlightened him in the finer points of whipping bad guys in the butt until he was decently competent with the weapon.

Pearl became his guide for battle tactics and general sparring. The slender gem spent hours brushing up his techniques and improving his posture. In only a few days, his reflexes were on another level to the point where, in the middle of a sparring session with him only being able to use a spear, he dodged one of Amethyst’s many, many, sneak attacks while also blocking and returning Pearl’s strikes. She was so impressed with his progress that she rewarded him with a cupcake and being able to stay up late to watch his favorite show on his phone. When she was not testing his combat, she was sharing anecdotes to her time in the war and running through various scenarios to see how he would react in the heat of the moment. Since he tried to be noble and selfless whenever possible, Pearl praised his courage, but warned that there would be times he would have to put himself first.

Garnet took it upon herself to be Steven’s personal trainer, dedicating herself to toughening him up. Day in and day out, the fusion focused on raising his strength and endurance through good-old fashioned physical exercise. While Steven was already well beyond the physical limits of a typical human thanks to being half-gem, Garnet wanted to further improve his abilities. Whether he was running back and forth from Beach City on runs, completing obstacle courses she set up out of random junk, typical strength-building through push-ups and weights, to having to break cinderblocks or mounds of ice she formed. This was just as much for her benefit as Steven’s since she wanted to get more adept with her new abilities. Occasionally she would have Steven defend or outrun fire attacks, but that almost resulted in Pearl going ballistic until she remembered the young boy’s healing powers. Even still, the white gem carried a vial of water from Rose’s fountain just in case he was injured during her more strenuous activities. Of course, she also further educated him in using her gauntlets in between the training sessions.

Peridot and Lapis Lazuli took a unique role compared to the other gems as they became students like Steven at some points, but instructed him at other times. Both of them were given a crash course in combat, since neither gem was developed with fighting in more nor did they have the plentiful experience as the main trio. Amethyst launched several sneak attacks on the two, forcing them to utilize their powers in unique ways. Pearl brushed them up on battle tactics and formal fighting techniques. Although she admits her teaching methods were never designed for their abilities, the duo took anything they could get. Garnet got them into some physical training as well, but more focused to improving their abilities instead of their physiques. Peridot was trained not only to make her ferrokinesis stronger, but more intricate so as to be more versatile than just swinging metal around. Lapis, since she already had brute force covered, was told how to be more versatile with her hydrokinesis. Instead of always making large, cumbersome constructs, Garnet insisted her to use her powers in a more restrained, yet accessible manner since she was quickly told she may not always have access to large bodies of waters. When they were not being taught, they were using their abilities to assist in Steven’s training. The boy had quickly grown accustomed to dodging flying soup cans, guarding against water whips, and having his cardio exercise interrupted by a blue dive-bomber trying to swoop him up and tickle him into submission.

Even if he never intended to fight, Greg did everything in his power to help his son and the other gems. When he was not checking up on the reconstruction of the beach house, he cheered Steven on and gave him constant encouragement. He always provided a shoulder for him to rest on and chatted with him during the breaks in his training. He was impressed to see his son take all of this in stride, rarely showing any sign of fear. Greg began to truly envy his optimism as all he could think about was him ending up severely hurt at best or being dragged back to Homeworld at worst. He also could not shake the feeling that he could be more useful in such a crisis, but what was a portly human in his forties with no real fighting skills supposed to do?

\---

After six days straight the Crystal Gems still focused solely on training Steven. While there was still some free time and an all-around positive attitude, there was always a level of tension as the threat of Homeworld’s arrival remained. The only other concern was Garnet disappearing for chunks of the day, but since she still stuck to the training schedule it was a minor matter.

At the moment, Steven was testing his reflexes and stamina against Peridot and Lapis. The goal was only to evade and block their attacks with Pearl and Amethyst watching over them as the two-on-one exercise continued. Lapis was keeping a small puddle of water by her side and making use of her new skills, creating tripwires and small bursts to keep Steven on his toes. Peridot had gathered several metal bits and bobs from Amethyst’s room and kept flinging everything from computer parts to spoons at the trainee. They duo had been trying to hit Steven for ten minutes now, and yet he continued to dodge everything or summon his shield for defense.

Clearly seeing he was used to individual tactics from the pair, they silently agreed to try hitting him together. Lapis made a strand of water go for Steven’s feet, causing the boy to leap into the air. As he was flying, she guided the liquid rope to follow him and tie him up while Peridot sent a barrage of blunt scrap at his torso. Instead of panicking, he summoned his bubble in midair and watched all the metal bits bounce off. He descended in total safety, slowly falling until he touched the ground and disable his shield. Much to his own shock, though, Lapis took advantage of the situation for an aerial attack. The aquatic aeronaut flew overhead and literally rained down liquid spheres on his head. Steven only barely saw them coming and, in a moment of panic, summoned his spear and tried to deflect them all with by rapidly spinning the weapon in order to disperse them. While Pearl was impressed by his improvisation, the boy was unused to such a technique and he was quickly thrown off balance. This gave Peridot the perfect opportunity to literally run into Steven to tag him with her scrawny fists. The two literally toppled over each other ending with Steven squashing the tiny green mechanic under his bulk, forcing her tap out in order to call an end to the exercise.

“And that is the last time I attempt hand-to-hand combat,” moaned Peridot as she stood up dizzily. Lapis was already trying not to laugh from watching their tumbling act, but seeing her barn-mate talking and stumbling like a drunkard pushed her over the edge and into a fit of hysterical laughter, kicking her bare feet as she laid guffawing on the dirt.

“Well Steven that was a very interesting attempt at defending yourself, but why not simply summon your bubble again?” asked Pearl as she looked him over for any injuries.

“I just sort of panicked and thought I wouldn’t have time. Plus, I saw that in a _Lonely Blade_ movie and wanted to try it out…” He chuckled, realizing that was not the best course of action. Aside from a few scrapes, though, there was no harm in it this time and Pearl still gave him a pat on the back for the ingenuity.

Just as the group was picking themselves up and readying for a different activity, Garnet and Greg beamed in from the warp pad with smiles on their faces.

“Hey everybody, the new house is officially done!” yelled Greg, relishing in having positive news for the first time in weeks, “Come and see it!”

“I think we could all use some time to unwind,” added Garnet, “This is officially a day off so we can celebrate.” She was also pleased to have something to take the weight off of the impending Homeworld arrival, also confident that the enemy was still a week away minimum. Steven eagerly ran ahead of the other gems, ready to have his old home back, and was literally jumping with excitement once the gems were assembled and whisked away back to the temple.

It was apparent as soon as they arrived as to why Greg was so eager to show off the house, which everyone else sans Garnet (who had been witnessing the renovations since she was regularly visiting the temple for her own project), believed it was going to be rebuilt exactly like it was before the flood and fire. One look at the house quickly proved them wrong as all of them gaped at seeing Greg had seriously upgraded their abode.

The immediate change they noticed was that there was an actual second level with a wooden spiral staircase leading up to it in the middle of the room, but there attention was quickly drawn to the main floor itself. While the ground and walls were still wood, they were all painted white and the layout was changed greatly. Steven’s former bedroom was gone, much to their surprise, and instead was a circular brick fire pit surrounded by comfy armchairs and a new white couch, large enough to easily sit four. Several bookshelves lined the right wall with dozens of books, albums, and movies that they had before and several they did not recognize. On the other side of the room was brand new kitchen, the counters and new island topped with a gorgeous white marble that shone next to the black-painted cupboards. The left wall was dominated with brand new appliances, stainless steel and still sparkling. The refrigerator, hood, toaster, even the blender all looked like they arrived today. The only remnants of their old kitchen was the microwave that survived all the carnage. There was also a tile backsplash above the sink, a stylish vibrant pattern of blue and green squares that clearly took inspiration from two of their residents.

“What do you think guys? I’ve been thinking we could do with a few upgrades for a while now,” boasted Greg, brimming with confidence at their new abode. Steven was already starry-eyed, oohing and aahing anything he caught glimpse of. He quickly ran to check out the new bathroom and was not disappointed when he opened the door. The new walls were a vibrant purple which complimented the lavender tiles in the shower. Any and all damage from Lapis’ nightmare was gone as all new fixtures gleamed under the just-installed lights.

“It’s amazing!” shouted Steven, as he ran to hug his father. Greg, however, had one more surprise concerning the staircase from earlier.

“Well, I’m surprised to hear you say that since you haven’t seen your new room yet…” the father coyly mentioned, causing his son to gasp and run right up the stairs from before. The gems, also puzzled at how his former sleeping area was now the living quarters, followed him to the new second floor and were surprised to see TWO bedrooms set up.

The staircase led to the middle of the new floor with the left side clearly being for Steven. All of his possessions were arranged on one side with the television and gaming consoles already set up his posters adorning the red wall. On the right, however, was another bed with a simple white bedspread. There were few materials possessions other than an old record player and a box of vinyl records at the foot of the bed and a new coffee maker to be plugged in downstairs later. The right wall was a lighter pink color with the other two changing colors halfway as if one color faded into the other.

“Greg, is this for when you visit?” asked Pearl.

“No, this is where I’ll be living from now on. I won’t be in your hair all the time since I’ll still be overseeing the car wash, but now I can hire employees to run it day to day. I want to really be involved in all the stuff going on and be by his side with the chaos going around. I know I’m not cut out to be on the front lines, but I want to stand by you all any way I can.”

The gems, while nervous at the thought of Greg boarding with them full time, were impressed by his dedication. Their doubts were further helped when Steven cheered and hugged his father, ecstatic at the thought of his family being all together for the first time in his life. With the tour of new house done, though, Garnet moved back downstairs and called for everyone to gather at the temple door.

“Alright, as you all know, I’ve been working on something here myself,” said the fusion after everyone assembled, “Rather than explain the renovations to you, I would like Peridot to demonstrate.”

The compact gem was rather startled by this, but Garnet merely asked here to come forward and place her hand on the temple door. As soon as it made contact with the smooth entryway, the star on the top began to shift and change. The five-point star shifted to six as a new point appeared opposite of Rose Quartz’s gem with a green triangular stone in the center. The observing gems were shocked, but none more so than Peridot herself.

“I think it’s only fair that since you no longer have the barn that you have a proper room now that you’re staying here,” spoke Garnet, shaking Peridot out of her stupor. The squat scientist was honored and looked behind her to see the entire assembly smiling at her, all agreeing she had long since earned such a reward. Peridot gave her sincere thanks to Garnet and entered her new room, eager to see what her new abode would contain. After the door vanished into sharp green pixels from the floor up, Peridot’s room surpassed all of her expectations.

The entire room was lit sporadically by striking green lightning, constantly moving along the darker green ceiling and floor. Peridot’s eyes, however, were on the contents of the room. Inside was every piece of technology she had access to on Homeworld along with dozens more she did not recognize. There was also a smattering of Earth gadgets from common hand tools to high-end lab equipment only found in classified research facilities. Once her mind took everything in, she leaped for joy and hollered at the top of her lungs in ecstasy. The gems merely let the door close on its own, knowing full well she would spend hours tinkering.

“Wow, Garnet, that was really nice of you,” complimented Lapis, “I can tell she’s really missed building stuff. Thanks.” As she began to walk away, however, the fusion spoke up.

“We’re not done here yet, Lapis. There’s still your room.” That got the blue gem to do a double take.

“Huh?! B-But, I’m not… Really, that’s-”

“What, you thought we were gonna make you sleep in the bathtub all the time?” jested Amethyst.

“Lapis, you have proven to be an immense asset in these past few weeks. You are more than worthy of having your own place here,” complimented Pearl.

The aquatic flyer had no words. As she brought back her experiences from the recent past to mind, she realized that they were right. She may have been scared at points and caused a mess at others, but she fought over and over again to save the planet and people she cares about. That brought an enormous smile to her face and quickly ran forward to place her hand on the door. A seventh point emerged with her tear-shaped gem right next to Peridot’s. Once complete, the door melted away into a blue liquid from the top down to reveal her new home.

Much like Rose’s room, the room was a vast expanse that disregarded physics as there seemed to be no end to the space. The sky above her was a mixture of all the elements she loved to see when flying. It was as if day and night were in constant competition with each other as there were multiple small suns surrounding streaks of blue sky among strips of stars and blackness made by several moons. Clouds and comets dotted the skyline, but her main focus was on the ground. The entrance to the room had a long strip of sand to resemble a beach, but the rest of the ground was water. A perfectly placid, sparkling blue ocean that went on for miles and miles.

“I take it you like what I’ve done with the place,” mused Garnet as she and the other gems watched Lapis stare at her new habitat for some time. When the blue gem turned to face them, her watery eyes said more than enough and hugged all of them. For the first time since she dropped the barn on those ruby ships, Lapis Lazuli felt like she was one of the Crystal Gems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we now have one big happy family. And next time, it might just a bit bigger...  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	20. Room for One More

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for an old face to reappear. Any guesses?

With everyone finally settled in the Universe household once more, training resumed with all seven of Crystal Gems focused on preparing for Homeworld’s arrival. While the date may be unknown, all of them swore to be as ready as could be. This went doubly so for Steven as he put all of his energy improving his skills.

The lessons continued with Amethyst keeping him alert around the clock, Pearl brushing up his technique and tactics and Garnet keeping up the exercise routine. Peridot and Lapis, when not glued to their new rooms, practiced as well. Peridot was already making plans for new devices she could create to combat the enemy and support his training, although the entire group shuddered in fear every time she asked what exactly “nuclear” meant. Lapis was making great strides with her hydrokinesis now that she had her own training ground with no potential for collateral damage. She was even working with Pearl on how to properly integrate her abilities into a fighting team, much to the veteran gem’s delight. Having yet another opportunity to teach was her only stress relief these days outside of cleaning.

As for Greg, he followed through on his promise to move in which worried the gems at first. While Steven was happy to see his father on a daily basis now, he and the others were skeptical how he would contribute to their efforts. As it turns out, he actually proved a benefit as he constantly kept the place together. He created a formal training schedule (much to Pearl’s disappointment), kept the house stocked with nutritious food and drinks for Steven, and provided some much-needed levity in the face of such paralyzing adversity. Everyone had come to rely on him for some positivity, but something caught Steven’s eye during one of his breaks. As he sat in one of the new chairs with his phone, he noticed his father coming out of Peridot’s room.

“S-Steven?!” his father gasped, surprised at him being idle, “How you doing, sport?” His eyes were flitting to and fro, blatantly giving away his fear.

“I’m fine, Dad. What were you doing with Peridot?” he asked, simply curious. He would never suspect his father of having ill intentions, but Greg’s nervousness was worrisome to him.

“Oh, well, you know, I never really got to know her, right? I mean, aside from that time she threw me off the barn roof and that other time she trashed the car wash we’ve barely spoken to each other and yet she’s been living here for months now! Speaking of which, I need to go and check up on inventory at the shop, I hear we need more squeegees, I’ll be right back. Love you!” He spoke like the wind and practically ran out the door, causing Steven to raise an eyebrow in confusion. Not long after he left, Peridot appeared from the temple scanning the room.

“Steven, where did your parental unit run off to?” asked the green researcher.

“He just took off. Seemed really nervous. What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing major. He just made a personal request, but he should realize that progress will be stifled if he scampers off like this,” she grumbled, ignoring Steven’s surprised look. “Well, since I’m out here, have you seen Pearl? I was looking to ask her about the armaments left over from the previous encounter with Homeworld.”

He quickly pointed her outside where the white veteran gem was stretching for her upcoming sparring session with Steven. Once the two got talking, however, they all decided it would be for the best to hold a meeting and take stock of all potential resources. Soon after, Garnet brought along one of the laser light cannons used during the original rebellion as all of the Crystal Gems gathered for their meeting on the patio. Peridot, intrigued by the weapon, circled around the pink device while muttering to herself. She soon came to a rather bleak conclusion.

“This is the most archaic gem weaponry I have ever seen. While this may have been the peak of technology at the time of its conception, using this against a modern Homeworld ship would accomplish nothing except amuse the invaders.”

Pearl grumbled at that, trying to ignore the fact that the weapon had saved them several times in the past, and focused on the topic at hand. “Well, this is the best we have aside from more conventional handheld weapons. Is there anything you could do to improve on this and make it viable?”

“While I could theoretically repurpose this, I will admit first and foremost direct weaponry is not my forte. I will, however, see what I can do with what equipment I now possess.” While it may not have been much, it was some reassurance and let the gems get back to their routine. The only one who stayed put was Steven who ran through the situation in his mind. He knew Peridot was no weapon smith, but who could fit that bill?

\---

After a long day of training, Steven’s body was ready for bed. He climbed into his yellow pajamas and felt ready to doze off. His mind, however, was still buzzing from their meeting earlier. All throughout the day he had the perfect candidate for someone who could make weapons, but the last time they met ended rather poorly. He had a hunch that if he brought it up to the others, they would just reject it for his safety and promise to think of something else.

Under normal circumstances, he would have happily listened and let them find an alternative. The problem was they were already short on time with all the training they were giving him and they still had no idea when Homeworld would show up. Steven figured that since these were desperate times, he had to jump the gun.

Once he was certain his father was asleep and none of the Crystal Gems were around, he climbed down the stairs and opened the way to the Burning Room. He hardly had to look to find the pink bubble he wanted and silently floated up to it. As he stared at the polychromatic gemstone inside, his doubts began to appear. For all he knew, she could just run away, refuse to help or even attack him on sight, all out of some millennia-old grudge. Deciding to keep them somewhere familiar, Steven carried the bubble outside onto the beach, right in front of the reconstructed porch. He made sure the main body of the temple was in full view, hoping that giving her something recognizable might keep her calm. After taking a breath to steady his nerves, he released the bubble and in only seconds, a bulky purple gem formed wearing a black apron although it seemed to have much more pink this time around. Her rainbow dreadlocks stood out as clear as day and once fully reformed, she looked down on him with a quiet glare.

“What do you want?” was all Bismuth asked, clearly angered at seeing Steven again.

“Hi…” he muttered, rubbing his head in discomfort, “Listen, I know we didn’t get started on the right foot last time-”

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” she droned, her voice laced with sarcasm, “Did you just want to give me a update of the last century so I know how much I’ve missed?”

“Actually, it’s only been a few months. And the reason I let you out is because Homeworld is coming back. Garnet saw they were sending a lot of gems here.”

That got the hulking blacksmith out of her funk. She may have been rusty, but her loyalty was still as fresh as ever.

“Did Garnet give you any specifics? Do we have a proper battle plan?”

“Not really. All we know is that it’s a few ships and we need you to help us. I know you don’t like me or my mom right now, but this planet needs you.”

Bismuth briefly went to war with herself as she contemplated this information. On the one hand, she looked up at the temple and felt a burning desire to take up arms again. There was still a drive to keep the Earth safe and stick it to those upper-crusts that would never die until she was in shards. But as soon as she looked down at Steven, a wave of uneasiness made her hesitate. She had a hunch this would not end well. Even with that rattling her mind, though, she crossed her arms and answered with a gruff “Okay.”

“Yay! Now let’s get you introduced to our new members!” As he began to lead her back into the house, a worrying thought entered his mind.

“Oh, before we start this can you just promise me one thing?”

“What?” If this was going where she thought, it would be a long day.

“You have to promise me that you won’t shatter anyone, alright?” Steven silently hoped she had learned to forgive and forget in her absence, but her creased brow quickly proved otherwise.

“Really? Not even five minutes in and we’re going down that road again?! Kid, I don’t know how much you know about war, but sometimes you don’t have a choice!”

“Just because you’re fighting, even if it’s right, doesn’t make it okay to kill gems, Bismuth!” That quickly got the large gem to lose any patience she had left.

“Shut your mouth, you stupid pebble!” she screamed, looming over him with a mad gleam in her eyes, “You have no idea what combat is like! Do you know what to do when you’ve got five jaspers breathing down your neck while your best friend’s screaming for help?! You can’t do squat if you’re in pieces and sometimes you have to get violent!”

“I know that, and I get this might be difficult for you-” he placated before being grabbed by her massive fists and pulled right into her snaring face.

“‘ _Might be difficult_ ’’?! You don’t know the first thing about war, you clod! I spent centuries putting my life on the line and you think YOU, some runt, can order me around?! Or do you think you’re in charge because of that gem you got?!”

“No! Bismuth, I just don’t want anyone getting seriously hurt!” He was panicking now, desperate to stop their screaming match from escalating, but it seemed he had ticked her off again.

“You’ve got the enemy literally coming down on your head, and that’s what’s you’re scared of! This planet is going to be _dust_ if we fail, don’t you get that?! I knew it, you are just as blind as she was…All you care about is right now when you can end the problem NOW!”

“Don’t talk like that! I won’t let you shatter anyone if I have to!”

Bismuth had to laugh at that. “Oh REALLY?! You think you’re hot stuff now?! I’ll tell you what, I’ll make some new weapons for the fight, all right. The first thing I’ll make is a new Breaking Point. In fact, I’ll have at least a dozen of them ready by the time the Diamonds get here and there won’t be a thing you can do to stop me! What do you think about that, Rose?!”

Steven was, by all means, amazingly lenient given all he has been through. He had faced incredible odds and almost always let hate and strife roll off his back. It was one of the qualities that had proven an asset in his training. No matter how many times he was knocked down or messed up, he got back up and swore to do better next time. Now, though, all that patience was gone and he was angry, made worse by her choice of name.

“My. Name. Is. STEVEN!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. His rage blinded him and in his fury he wrenched one of his arms loose and decked Bismuth in the face.

Normally he would just summon a bubble of try to talk his way out of it, but that was not an option with the ringing in his ears. As he watched the purple gem go skidding across the sand, actually sent twenty feet from his punch, his anger irritation quickly turned to regret.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, I’m sorry!” He pleaded for forgiveness, but when Bismuth got up her eyes were boring holes into him.

“OH YOU’RE GONNA BE SORRY ALRIGHT!” She shapeshifted her hands into a pair of axe heads and charged at him like a bull, practically snorting steam out of her nose. Now he had done it, a fight had started and there was no negotiating his way out of it. With no other choice, Steven leapt into the air in a frenzy but Bismuth just soared after him. Surprised by her buoyancy given her bulk, he summoned his shield and blocked every swing she threw at him once they were face-to-face in the sky.

The feverish gem slashed at him several times, but Steven summoned his shield and kept his guard up under her assault. That proved to be his undoing, however, as Bismuth decided to tackle him and push him down to the ground. Shocked by her charge, he did not slow his fall and was sent plummeting several feet into the sand. He crawled out in a daze and tried to catch his bearings as Bismuth barreled towards him again, now wielding dual hammers for hands.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that!” Bismuth taunted, but her cockiness quickly changed as Steven rose back up, and launched straight into the bulky blacksmith. As the two tumbled on the sand, Steven eventually got the upper hand in their tussle and, quite literally, threw his opponent for a loop as he tossed her several dozen feet in the air. Rather than backing down, however, Steven pursued her into the sky with another leap, much to the renegade’s shock.

“Well, you’ve gotten better, but-” whatever sassy retort she could make was cut off as Steven grabbed Bismuth’s leg and forced both of them back down to earth at breakneck speed. The crash kicked up a cloud of sand forty feet high and sent shockwaves down the coast line. As the debris cleared Bismuth, groaning from the impact, was lying in a crater of sand with Steven standing looking her in the eyes. Despite still wearing his yellow pajamas, he managed to appear threatening as his stature and face made it clear he was in no mood for her backtalk.

“Stop this, Bismuth,” he asked, stern yet tender, “I don’t want to seriously hurt you. And I know Mom didn’t either.”

Rather than backing down, that caused Bismuth’s ferocity to explode again. “How would _you_ know what Rose wanted?! You weren’t there! And if you’re not her, what gives you the right to order me around?!”

“Because we want the same thing. We want the Diamonds to go away and leave the Earth in peace. I don’t want to order you around, but I want to end this with as little shattering as possible.”

“Hah! You think it’s that easy? You think this is all some game?! You don’t know the first thing about what those Diamonds will stoop to, how far they’ll drag you down to get what they want. Face it, Steven, that’s how war is. Sometimes it’s you or them and you need to pick one…”

“I know that!” shouted Steven, his own patience gone again thanks to Bismuth’s prattling. He grabbed the broad gem by the shoulder and forced her to look him in the eye.

“I watched Yellow Diamond tell Peridot to let the Earth blow up because she hates it. I saw Blue Diamond kidnap my dad for some freaky human zoo. A few months ago I was on trial in front of both of them because I wanted to keep the Earth safe! It was the dumbest decision I ever made and frankly I hate myself for it! But I didn’t have a choice…It was that or all my friends get taken to Homeworld. I almost threw my life away, Bismuth. I should be dead. I don’t want to see anyone, no matter what side they are on, die. It scares me and I’ll bet it scares you too. If that happens, it should be as a last resort. I hate fighting, but I know it’s the only way sometimes. I don’t want to fight you, Bismuth, but I’ll keep doing it until you come around. Then we can work together to end this war.”

For several minutes the two stared at each other in silence on the sand, the cold ocean air barely phasing them as they locked eyes. As they stared at each other Greg and the Crystal Gems, save for a preoccupied Lapis Lazuli, emerged from the beach house. The group was alerted to the situation thanks to Greg being rudely awakened from his sleep by the mighty crash from the fight between the two.

“Okay then,” remarked Garnet, admittedly having not seen this outcome coming, “I think we all need to calm down and discuss some issues.”

Both parties could not agree more and moved to the recently rebuilt porch except for Greg who went back to bed now that the fireworks settled down. Bismuth stood before two of her old comrades and several new faces as she retold the events. She was asked several questions by the Crystal Gems and even a few from Steven. After she made her case, Steven spoke his side which matched up with Bismuth’s tale and even had him vouching for them all to work together much to the rainbow-haired blacksmith’s shock.

After both stories were told, Garnet looked at her old ally with a neutral gaze. After several agonizing minutes, she spoke.

“Bismuth, I appreciate your honesty here. I also know you were always one who went with your gut instinct and even after all this, I trust you.”

That made the purple blacksmith smile, but it quickly faded as the fusion took on a very serious tone.

“However, that is the second time you attacked Steven. And that’s not bringing up the events that led to Rose bubbling you in the first place. This all makes me rather hesitant to bring you on permanently.”

“Please, you know me Garnet!” Bismuth pleaded, “I give my all for whatever I set my mind to. If an ally needs backup, I’m there in an instant. And yes, I may have gone too far with the…measures I was willing to take to beat Homeworld. But I can change! That’s what the Crystal Gems are, a bunch of nobodies who wanted a different lot in life. I did it back then and I can do it now!”

“Bismuth, I want to believe you,” assured Pearl, “I trusted you with my life countless times. But after hearing everything you’ve done, I frankly don’t blame Rose for putting you away. You were getting too mutinous, murderous even. I fully understand wanting to end the battle, but your plan was simply too extreme.”

That was not what the hulking gem wanted to hear, and began shrinking back in anxiety. “Okay, I get it. No more Breaking Point. That’s a done deal. Just let me help you somehow. I’ll make weapons, I’ll reinforce the base, heck I’ll even stay by the kid’s side if he’s ever in trouble. Just please, don’t leave me out of everything again!”

Amethyst and Peridot, lacking the amicable past with the gem, looked skeptical. Pearl looked as if she was resigned to her ally being sent back into imprisonment for her own good. Garnet was a straight-faced as ever, but Steven seemed genuinely moved.

“I believe you,” he uttered, much to the questioned gem’s shock.

“Y-You do?”

“Of course. We all get carried away sometimes, and you were doing what you did to help your family and the Earth. I may not like how you did it, but I know you care about this planet and everyone on it. If you’re willing to change then I’ll give you a chance.”

Bismuth was tempted to drop her jaw in shock, but somehow kept it closed. Her awe grew as Steven stood from his seat and held out a hand for her in a sign of comradery. All she could do was gawk at it.

“I don’t get it,” she admitted, sounding more lost than in her entire life, “When you first let me out I wanted to shatter you. Now you want to be my ally. Why?”

“Because deep down I know we want the same thing and I know you can get better. I want to find the best in you Bismuth.”

The bulky gem actually felt a tear well up in her eye as she took his hand and the two shook with smiles on their faces. The table of Crystal Gems looked equally surprised, but all grinned at the sight in front of them.

“Well, if Steven’s willing to extend a hand in solidarity then I see little reason to question him. After all, I was on the opposite side of this conflict less than a year ago,” remarked Peridot as she strode over to the larger gem, secretly planning for all the projects she could help create.

“Same here, ‘cept I just joined up because why not. As long as you don’t burn the place down, I’m game,” joked Amethyst, leaning back into her beach chair now that the tension was dying down.

“I suppose the only issue now will be finding a place for you around here,” added Pearl, quietly ecstatic to have one of her last remaining friends from the old days back in action.

Garnet merely stood and shook Bismuth’s meaty hand herself, cementing her approval of this new arrangement. As the gang was about to head inside to get their newest addition settled they saw Lapis Lazuli staring at Bismuth. In all the excitement, none of them noticed how she did not emerge from the temple with the others due to her sleeping. It was unclear how much of the commotion she saw, but her eyes never left the dreadlocked gem.

“Oh, hey there,” greeted Bismuth, “You must be another new member. Hope we can-” was all she managed to say before a massive tendril of water wrapped around her torso. In only a second she was sent flying several miles into the ocean, screaming her head off all the while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's funny, really. When I began this story, I never imagined a chapter ending with Lapis forcing someone to be a living cannonball. That just popped into my head now. Weird, right?  
> Thank you all so much or reading this! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	21. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas, everybody! After some holdups the next chapter is here with something I've been dyng to make since I got into writing Steven Universe stories. Enjoy!

Even for a group as eclectic and eccentric as the Crystal Gems, watching someone get flung over the horizon by a massive liquid tentacle after offering a handshake was just surreal. All six of them just looked out to the ocean, unable to see or hear Bismuth anymore. Eventually Amethyst broke the silence by asking the question on all of their minds.

“Okay, that was awesome and all, but WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!”

As the group pondered such a profound question, Pearl eventually recalled a moment from her and Lapis’ trip to the former Crystal Gem armory which made her groan and slap her own gem in consternation.

“Lapis, don’t tell me…You think Bismuth is the one who-”

“I know she did it. She’s the reason I was put in that mirror,” spoke the aquatic gem with enough malice and firmness that the others almost took it at face value.

Even still, Pearl insisted she bring Bismuth back to at least hear the other side of the story in order to verify her claim. Although she scoffed at the thought of her being innocent, Lapis complied as she flew into the night to retrieve the unwilling purple projectile. As she was unceremoniously flung back onto the beach by the same water formation, amazing Peridot with her lung capacity after another long bout of screaming, Lapis returned with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face.

“Okay, what the heck was that for?!” shouted Bismuth, her temper flaring up once more as this was becoming the second worst day of her life. As she got into Lapis’ face, the smaller gem did not flinch and merely stared back with a disturbing lack of emotion.

“Bismuth, it appears that Lapis is under the impression that you caused her some serious pain,” spoke Pearl, hoping to stop another water-whipping, “And she still has a grudge.”

“You could say that…” grumbled the gem in question.

“What do you mean, there aren’t that many Lapis Lazulis on Homeworld. And besides that, they aren’t soldiers,” rebutted Bismuth, but that answer clearly did not sit well with Lapis.

“I had a habit of wandering off. I was in the middle of a field, just looking around, when a battle came up around me. Remember that?”

Bismuth looked puzzled by her statement and suddenly had a recollection.

“Oh wait! There was this one time I found some stupid Lapis Lazuli wandering around and I…” she trailed off as she saw Lapis give her a glare that could melt glaciers. The others, even Steven, all looked at her with some mixture of shock, disappointment and disgust. The sole exception was Pearl who was too busy holding her face in her hands in shame.

“You attacked Lapis when she was doing nothing?! What’s the matter with you?!” shouted Amethyst.

“It was the heat of the moment. She had a Diamond insignia on her. I panicked! My bad, alright?”

“Rose specifically ordered us to never attack bystanders, Bismuth. As such a close affiliate of hers, you of all gems should know that,” stated Pearl.

“Look, I’m sorry! She’s still whole, right? What’s the worst that could have happened?” That was the last sentence Bismuth could utter before several liquid chains emerged from out of the ocean. They wrapped around her hands, feet and neck with a disturbing amount of pressure considering they were purely made of water. The larger blacksmith already felt her extremities ache and her neck chafe. That discomfort paled, however, when an incensed Lapis silently walked up to her. The chains forced Bismuth to meet her eye to eye and she suddenly had flashbacks to several very ugly battles from days gone by. Suddenly taking on an angry hoard of Homeworld gems singlehandedly sounded downright delightful.

“You really want to know how bad it got, Bismuth? Okay then, I’ll tell you. Imagine being stuck in a pane of glass for 6,500 years. In all that time you are fully aware of what is happening and are screaming to be let out. For around half of that time, give or take a century, you are constantly drilled by Homeworld sentries for information you don’t have. You plead innocent, you beg to be released, but they insist you’re lying and keep pressing you. Then they throw you away like garbage, nearly breaking your gem in the process, and leave you for dead. Then, after spending another couple thousand years along in some desert, a gem finds you and puts you into storage up until about a year ago. All I felt was cold, beaten, alone and violated. Oh, and some unbearable pain once the broken gem came in. I had no reason to go on, no reason to live anymore. And now I learn all that misery was caused by some reckless, hotheaded, moronic _psychopath_ who punches first and asks questions later when she should have known Lapis Lazulis are strictly used for cleanup only when the colonization process is complete. That’s the kind of stuff they teach you minutes after being formed. Does that answer your question? My life has been mostly _hell_ thanks to you. I have every reason to despise you, and trust me, I do. The only reason I’m explaining this to you instead of flinging you into the sun so you can experience _some_ of the excruciating torture you put me through is because Steven wants to give you a chance. Count yourself lucky that he wants to save you. And if you hurt him again I will make you suffer so much even _the Diamonds themselves_ will feel sorry for you.” Her voice never wavered. Every syllable was packed with enough fire to burn a city to ashes.

Once her speech was done, the chains receded in an instant. Everyone on the beach was too stunned to move an inch. Bismuth was actually close to hyperventilating, brought closer to breaking than any of the hundreds of battles she fought in.

“Oh, and I might have amnesia thanks to you, so there’s that,” added a much calmer Lapis, but a grimace was still there. Once her back was turned, however, she gave a smile to the still stunned group and gave Steven a hug before heading back to her room for more sleep. Unsure of how to proceed after that episode, the rest simply headed inside. Bismuth eventually decided to head in herself once everyone was back to their rooms and make swords in the old Crystal Gem forge until the sun came up. Along with calming her nerves, she still had a mission and intended on making sure Homeworld was going down.

\---

After another incident that disturbed his sleep, Steven woke up long after he was supposed to according to his training schedule. Given the recent change to their team, however, everyone was in an unsaid agreement to let today be an off one. After getting dressed, he bound down the stairs to where his dad was calmly preparing a late breakfast.

“Morning, kiddo! Ready for another fun day?” he jovially asked while cooking up some turkey bacon.

“Heh, yeah,” he shyly remarked, “What happened to Bismuth?”

“I’m over here,” answered the blacksmith. Her and Pearl were sitting in two of the chairs around the new fire pit. The latter waved Steven over to join them and was soon brought his breakfast by Greg before the balding dad ran out to attend to some business.

“So what have you guys been doing?” asked Steven. “Well Bismuth came by while you were asleep and wanted to be brought up to speed on everything that has happened since her…suspension began,” Pearl replied awkwardly, not wanting to offend her comrade, “Naturally, it has been quite the long chat.”

“You can say that again,” grumbled Bismuth, “I still can’t believe about the corruption thing! How could those Diamonds do something like that?!”

“If it’s any consolation, Steven managed to appease one and it was safely released into the wild. At least there’s some positive outcome in all this,” amended Pearl. The larger gem just sighed and rested her head on her hand. Steven just ate in silence as they spoke.

“I guess that’s better than nothing, but still… Everyone? Even Biggs?”

Pearl simply looked down at her knees in grief. “We found her terrorizing a village in South America around eight hundred years ago. The gem we knew was nowhere to be seen.”

Before more reminiscing could occur, the house was rocked by a shockwave that shook the foundation and sent Steven sprawling onto the floor. The obvious question of what was happening was answered as Peridot came stumbling out of her room with an old-fashioned fire extinguisher in her hands and scorch marks along her face.

“Steven, how do you operate one of these contraptions? Also, does anyone here have more information on cold fusion?”

“Just pull the pin out and spray the foam to put out the fire. And no, I don’t know unless its two gems fusing while ice skating.”

“Stand back, I’ll handle it,” spoke Garnet as she calmly walked in from her morning stretches. She opened her left hand and let the flames stream from the lab into her ruby until it was no more. Peridot muttered her thanks as she struggled with the unwieldy metal canister and stumbled back into her room. Bismuth was trying to pick her jaw off the arm of the chair.

“How in the name of Homeworld did you do that?!” she shouted incredulously.

“Steven taught me how to do it,” was all she answered with before waving goodbye to them all and heading back outside. Bismuth was still gaping as the boy in question finished his breakfast and placed his dish in the sink.

“I hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” said a sheepish Pearl, “Sorry about that.”

As the two continued to discuss the times gone by, the rest of the beach house was abuzz with activity. Steven headed outside for his latest bout of exercise with Garnet, Amethyst and Lapis. Peridot spent another day cooped up in her lab working on only the Diamonds know what, only interrupted by another visit from Greg to discuss his personal project. It was not until noon when Steven was having lunch that Garnet gathered all of them together for a meeting.

“I’ve realized we’ve been missing something in our preparations,” spoke the fusion once everyone was gathered around the fire pit. Everyone, save for Steven who was eating his sandwich, had their eyes on her.

“We have all been acting in smaller groups or individuals when we should be a single team. We need some way to test our abilities as a group. Fortunately, there’s a mission we need to take care of before Homeworld arrives.”

“What, is there another gem artifact we need to find? How many of those did you lose during the original conflict anyways?” remarked Peridot.

“Hey, you try managing a couple hundred items while all kinds of chaos go on around you. It’s not that easy!” rebuked Bismuth.

“I did. I spent the equivalent of three hundred years keeping track of warp pads and kindergartens even as colonization efforts were going on around me. I’ll concede to you once you step into my role for a few centuries.”

Bismuth, rather than get upset, chuckled at the techie’s remark and allowed Garnet to continue.

“No, but it is imperative that we handle this before Homeworld arrive. I’ve located an abandoned Homeworld garrison about two hundred miles away in remarkably good shape. We need to remove its power supply so that Homeworld can’t use it."

“Wait, why would we just take the power supply? Couldn’t we destroy it to make sure?” asked Steven as he finished his lunch.

“That might be a viable option, but it could also be a potential asset for us. With it being so close to the temple, they could use it as a ground base to launch attacks on us or even create more gems. But by simply depowering the base, while keeping the core supply intact, we make it so we hold exclusive access to it unless Homeworld goes through the effort of repairing it,” explained Pearl. Garnet nodded in agreement.

“I’d like to add that them going to the effort of recreating an outdated power supply would be highly unlikely. It would simply be more efficient to set up a temporary outpost if they wanted a terrestrial base to begin with,” contributed Peridot. This seemed to raise everyone’s spirits as the plan came together.

“It will also serve as an exercise as to how to operate as one cohesive unit. There will no doubt be various countermeasures to stop intruders, thus meaning we can learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses in an effort to reach the power supply.”

While Lapis glanced at Bismuth with distrust, the others saw no issue with the plan and strolled up to the warp pad. They reached their destination, a small clearing surrounded by towering trees, in a literal flash. After a short stroll through the pines and oaks they found their destination. Just as Garnet stated, the gem base was in excellent shape considering it was abandoned several millennia ago. The structure was surprisingly ornate given the pragmatic approach of Homeworld with the walls adorned with various splashes of yellow, blue, white and pink that swirled around in coalesced into the emblem of the Diamond Authority at multiple points. The overall shape was rectangular, three stories tall with cylindrical wings jutting out all four sides. As the group approached, Steven was suddenly stopped in his tracks by an invisible wall about fifty feet away from the entrance.

“A force field? Awesome, can we get one?!” cheered Steven, his optimism shining through much to the other gems’ amusement. While Peridot was indeed considering such a defense mechanism, the others were puzzled as to how to breach the structure. Amethyst immediately went to her usual tactic of ramming into it at full speed with her spin dash. After the fifth attempt got her nowhere but closer to a concussion, Bismuth had to chuckle at her resilience and looked around for any control mechanism. Peridot took the same approach while Pearl and Garnet simply watched.

“They don’t seem to be working together,” murmured Pearl, anxious at their immediate reflex being to split up.

“It’s only the first step. If we’re stuck for too long, we’ll band together and think of something.”

“What are you guys doing?” inquired Lapis.

“Trying to figure out a way to bypass this force field,” replied Pearl.

“Speaking of that, you might wanna stop your friend here. She’s bashing her head in trying to knock it down,” shouted Bismuth as she held a struggling Amethyst in her arms. The smaller scrapper’s eyes were spinning in her head and her voice sounded too loopy for comfort.

Lapis merely shifted her eyes from side to side as she walked right past where the force field still holding up Steven and the other gems. As the others gawked at her she reached the front door and placed her hand on a small pad on the wall which read her handprint and deactivated the barrier. The others, even the stunned Amethyst still in Bismuth’s grasp, was speechless save for Garnet who merely grinned at the sight.

“Guess they never took me out of the system when I got stuck. To this machine I’m still a Homeworld gem.” With that, Amethyst was dropped with an unceremonious thud and proceeded to charge in headfirst. The others quickly followed behind with Garnet still shaking her head in bemusement at the turn of events.

After making their way past the entrance way, a hallway lit with nothing but pink lights from the floor, they found themselves in the main chamber of the base. Inside was a large workstation with multiple seats clearly built for smaller gems such as peridots that also defied the age of the building. Somehow the place appeared to be in perfect working order with only the staff leaving in the wake of the conflict with the Crystal Gems. While most of the group simply looked around, Peridot gleefully ran up to one of the control consoles and typed her way past the encryptions and into the main files.

“According to these schematics, the power supply is actually beneath this central room. All I need to do is find the controls to reveal it.” The rest of the group, especially Pearl, was utterly baffled at how smoothly their mission was going. At this rate getting their goal would be a literal stroll in the park. That ease changed, however, when a small spherical droid appeared and started scanning the room. When it reached Steven, however, the droid flew straight back from the slot in the wall it emerged from and all the power in the base was cut off.

“WANTED REBEL DETECTED! DEPLOYING PROTECTIVE MEASURES!” blared from the walls. Everyone, save for an anxious Lapis who felt vulnerable with no liquid present, geared up for a fight. The alarm soon went quiet as several robotic spheres, similar to the ones Peridot used on her maintenance trips, began rolling out of slots in the walls. Once they were all released they began rolling everywhere until coming to a complete stop. They all stood in silence as they expected the round droids to attack, set up a trap, or some other maneuver and yet nothing happened. Several minutes passed with no one moving a muscle until Amethyst, her patience having been eroded by the quiet and tension, shouted “Are these stupid robots gonna fight or what?!”

That turned out to be a major mistake as the robots took the sound as the cue to attack by shooting multiple lasers at the purple gem, causing her to dodge and run about as she dodged the fire. This quickly escalated as every robonoid began firing lasers, all of them causing profound discomfort whenever they hit their mark, in random directions forcing the gems to scatter. Steven tried summoning his bubble shield, but that proved a liability as the lasers refracted off its surface meaning more fire for the other gems to avoid.

“Nice going, Amethyst!” shouted Pearl as she tried to deflect the beams heading her way with her spear.

“Now’s not the time for bickering!” ordered Garnet, thinking proactively and using her ice powers to freeze many of the robonoids to the floor. “Remember this is also an example of how to work together.”

Bismuth trying to squash many of the spheres under her foot, but due to the being the bulkiest of the group she was taking the brunt of the attack. While she was still standing, it was obvious the lasers were beginning to wear her down as her movements became sluggish. Peridot, trying desperately to control the robots with her ferrokinesis, offered her advice.

“Go for the control console! By damaging that it should disrupt the program that’s controlling these nuisances!”

The larger gem took the hint and charged through more beams to reach the central console, which she noticed was remarkably unharmed despite the rampant fire. She quickly morphed her hands into hammers and smashed the main station to pieces. At first the plan seemed to work as the incessant lasers stopped. Then the alarm started blaring once again and the robonoids went fully berserk, now rolling and bouncing erratically while resuming their laser barrage. Even Garnet began to get overwhelmed as even when she managed to freeze or smash any of them, more filed in from the walls to take their place. It seems that Bismuth also destroyed whatever inhibition was keeping the swarm of spherical menaces from going all-out to avoid damaging the hardware. Now they had nothing to hold them back from whittling down the intruders until they were no more.

Steven was desperately trying to reflect the lasers with his shield, but it still led to more fire heading towards the gems every time he managed to block one. Pearl was becoming exhausted as the fire continued along with many of the robonoids colliding with her. Amethyst tried to corral them with her whip, but now they were too out of control to manage. Bismuth was still getting hammered. Peridot had no ability to control them thanks to the constant fire interrupting her concentration. Lapis felt completely helpless as she tried flying and outmaneuvering as many as she could, but she was still taking heavy damage. Garnet, who had some success at freezing them before, now could not resort to using either element out of risk of freezing or burning one of her teammates.

Eventually the fight became too much for Lapis as the aquatic gem was gunned down and fell to the floor with a dangerous thus. The short but painful plummet, combined with the constant laser fire and her natural frailty given that she was never built for combat forced her to the ground with a piercing thud. The robonoids began pounding on her body as more laser beams found their mark.

“LAPIS!” shouted Steven and Peridot in shock, the latter forgoing her own safety to charge over to her comrade. She swatted away as many of the bots as she could, and raised her to eye level.

“Peri, what are you doing? Protect yourself…” she mumbled as unconsciousness began to set in. The tenacious scientist was not having that.

“If you think I would to abandon my comrade and most valued companion, you are mistaken. We need to get you outside so the others can handle this.”

“But-”

“Did you hear me?! I may not be much use in this conflict either, but I will not abandon you! And I am certain that none of the others would. As Crystal Gems and as friends.”

Lapis, touched by the sentimentality, grabbed onto Peridot’s hand. As soon as the two touched, however, their bodies changed into pure light save for their gemstones. The others were stupefied as the light coalesced into a new being. She stood as tall as Garnet with bright blue-green skin and a hairdo that rose to a point at the top with a loose back that flowed down to her neck. She also possessed four arms and a pair of heterochromatic eyes, the left blue and the right green. Her outfit was a vibrant, greenish-blue short-sleeved dress that parted past her waists and draped around her legs in two separate pieces. Her two gems were a triangular turquoise on her forehead and a tear-shaped one at the top of her spine. Upon first forming, she looked down at her own body in bewilderment. It was only when one of the robotic orbs bashed into her face that snapped her out of her trance. Without a word, the new fusion held out her hand and forced the robot to stop in midair. With a slight squeeze of that hand, the robot began to melt into a puddle of reflective liquid.

Noticing that one of ranks had fallen, the bombardment stopped and all the droids turned their attention on the new fusion trying to analyze this unknown threat. Said fusion simply glanced at the hundreds of robonoids around her with a look of vague interest.

She then spoke with an aloof, yet confident tone. “I am Turquoise, and you have proven a grave danger to myself and my allies. It appears that I am greatly outnumbered by your ranks. There are roughly one hundred and fifty of you remaining compared to me.”

At that moment, she raised her lower set of arms and forced the liquid remains of the robonoid to float and then slash three of the nearest droids into scrap with a flick of her wrists. In only seconds the now destroyed robonoids were liquefied and merged into one large band of silvery liquid.

“Your numbers are insufficient. Sucks to be you.”

From that point on, Turquoise did not speak as she sprouted her own aquatic wings, now colored blue-green with a noticeable metallic shine to them, and flew over the swarm as fast she could given the close quarters. As she flew at headlong speed, her new weapon cut down the spheres and dodged every shot they fired at her. After reducing one third of them to piles of parts, Turquoise stopped in the center of the room and let the deluge of liquid silver death swirl around her. As each robot fell they were melted and assimilated into the silvery hurricane and grew larger, protecting the new gem at its center and growing more powerful. After several minutes the robots were all destroyed and Turquoise allowed the maelstrom to stop. She had a relaxed smirk on her face as she walked up to Garnet, who spent the entire time beaming with pride and excitement.

“The power supply is under this floor, correct?” she asked. Her fellow fusion simply nodded. Without missing a beat, all the stannic liquid merged into a large drill head and tunneled into the floor until a noticeable pink glow appeared. Pearl simply reached down and grabbed the object they sought - an octagonal sphere still radiating with pink energy. In an instant the sphere was bubbled and sent to the temple.

“That was amazing!” cheered Steven as he stared with starry-eyes at Turquoise. Unfortunately, his attention made her face scrunch in disgust and split back into Peridot and Lapis. While the former was uncharacteristically silent, the latter was on her hands and knees panting as if she was scared for her life.

“Whoa, are you alright?” asked Bismuth, concerned by her sudden collapse. The neurotic aquatic, too shaken to be angered, tried to reply.

“It’s just that-Last time-It-She-We-I can’t-”

“I get it, bad experience. But take a deep breath now, everything’s fine.” Lapis did as she was told and inhaled deeply. Within seconds she had her breath under control again, but was now rather perplexed.

“Why are you helping me? I threatened to throw you into the sun.”

“One, because I frankly needed a kick like that. Two, you’re still a Crystal Gem and I always stand by my teammates. And three,” she brought herself down to Lapis’ level and whispered, “Because I was uncomfortable with fusion at first. You’re not alone there.”

Seeing this display of comradery warmed the other gems’ hearts and they all strolled out of the now useless-base with content faces. Before leaving, however, Peridot just had to get her hands on the force field control panel. Steven helped out by ripping the panel out of the wall with some effort and the group headed back with their mission complete, some new tools and their unity stronger just as Garnet intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, my own fusion! Hope you all enjoyed her as much as I did, because I have more planned in the future. Good thin to because Homeworld is just around the corner...  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	22. Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How fitting to wrap up 2018 with the wait for the first major conflict with Homeworld finally starting. Yay symbolism!

After their trek to the deserted Homeworld base, the Crystal Gems were in high spirits as the preparations continued. Bismuth and Peridot soon found themselves chatting about all the possible trinkets they could create with their freshly-pilfered technology. With the former’s talent in metallurgy and crafting and the latter’s mechanical knowledge they became fast friends and spent the day in Peridot’s room tinkering.

With those two holed up building some new gadgets, Steven resumed his training with the remaining four. The youngling was getting the hang of his new weapons and was now testing them in combat. While he could now add the whip, spear and gauntlets to his repertoire, he was far from a master but the others were pleased with his progress nevertheless. Lapis had also grown much more proficient with using her water control in battle and was quickly becoming a fighter on par with the veteran members. After several hours of work the gems called it a day and found Greg and Connie waiting for them to learn about the day’s mission. The evening was filled with jokes and banter until the subject turned to Turquoise.

“You guys should have seen them! They were incredible!” boasted Steven as he ate his dinner as the conversation went on. Lapis blushed at his compliments, but still looked uncomfortable about the topic.

“Thanks but… I don’t think I’ll be doing that again,” remarked Lapis much to the boy’s shock.

“Why not? You and Peridot were awesome together! I bet Turquoise could beat a room full of Homeworld gems by herself!”

“That may be the case, but fusion is no laughing matter,” added Pearl, “Heck, even I was flustered when Rose and I fused for the first time. Now, admittedly, I was less reluctant and-”

“Careful Pearl, there’s kids here. We don’t want things to get too steamy!” jeered Amethyst causing her to laugh heartily as Pearl’s cheeks turned blue.

“Lapis, don’t stress yourself out,” spoke Garnet, “Fusion is a unique experience to every gem and it happens at its own pace. None of us will pressure you into something you aren’t 100% comfortable with.” As Lapis smiled at her, she continued.

“Now I understand you had a terrible time as Malachite, but you know Peridot is nothing like that. A healthy fusion is one that is greater than the sum of its parts and it seems Turquoise can be one. You two can explore that more or simply save it for later. It’s entirely your choice.”

“She’s right, you know,” said Connie, “I may really enjoy being Stevonnie, but that doesn’t mean anyone would be. It’s especially weird the first time.”

“Wow. Thanks guys.” Lapis was touched by their concern and openness. She felt a weight lift off her dainty shoulders and headed outside to enjoy the evening ocean air while the rest cleaned up the place before one last round of training before their newest member headed off to bed.

\---

For the next few days the group settled into a comfortable rhythm combining Steven’s progressing training, concocting new ideas to ward off invaders and the occasional goofy occurrence that kept the mood light. Whether it was Amethyst trying to get Bismuth into professional wrestling, Peridot’s persistence at learning the details of nuclear energy or Pearl trying to keep the house tidy with so many new occupants around, everything seemed to be at ease. That all changed when Garnet revealed a recent vision she had.

“Homeworld’s coming in three days,” she announced to Steven and the other gems after another training session at the Sky Arena. The only sounds that could be heard for many agonizing seconds was the wind blowing through the group and the contents of Steven’s water bottle being emptied onto the floor as he was frozen in place halfway between raising the container to his mouth for a drink.

The entire group sans Garnet shouted “WHAT?!” in dismay and began clamoring over each other until the fusion regained their attention by stomping the arena so hard it rattled the entire structure.

“We all know panicking is not going to solve the issue. We’ve spent weeks readying ourselves and now we need to take stock of anything we can use to protect the base.”

“Peridot and I did get a start on making our own version of the force field like that other base. Ours could even have some security measures installed in case of a breach” replied Bismuth. The others took some relief in knowing the temple could not be simply bombed out of oblivion before they had a fighting chance.

“I’m probably the best chance we have if they send some huge ship out of us. If they come too close, I can use the ocean to stop them,” added Lapis. The group also appreciated having such a force on their side.

“And if worst comes to worst and there’s a full-scale battle, we’ll have to rely on tactics. Fortunately that’s something we had to rely on back in the old days, so we have plenty of ways to outsmart them,” contributed Pearl, further alleviating their fears that Homeworld would simply overwhelm them with superior tech and forces.

The only ones who did not look too convinced was Steven and, of all gems, Amethyst who appeared to be trying to sink into the floor by staring at it hard enough. The others only partially took notice and chalked it up to nerves. Now they had a strict time limit before they had a serious threat on their hands. The rest of the day went by in a blur as the group ran left and right beginning to fortify the temple, cram as much training in for Steven as possible and confront the possibility of a second war for the planet Earth.

\---

The next day was spent training as hard as possible. Since everyone knew their enemy’s goal was to capture Steven and sentence him to Rose Quartz’s crimes they had to be entirely sure he could defend himself. The main trio spent hours drilling in how to use their weapons and the time has come to test him once again. All of the Crystal Gems, save for Peridot as she toiled away in her lab, were at the DeMayo family field standing around Steven for a more intensive sparring session.

“Steven, this time we want you to retaliate as we come at you. Don’t be afraid of causing us any harm, we need to see how well you can fight back against a wide array of opponents,” instructed Pearl. Garnet continued from there.

“And try using the different weapons this time. It will keep your opponents guessing and could be the difference in a battle. Now get ready. Come at me first.”

With the rules laid out, Steven readied his shield and began running straight towards Garnet. The fusion quickly summoned her gauntlets and sent a punch straight towards him. Rather than dodging, the younger warrior let the blow push him backwards. Garnet rushed in to take advantage of his mistake, but soon found herself on the receiving end of Steven’s gauntlets. The two traded blows back and forth, neither one making a hit until Pearl rushed in to intercept him. He only barely saw her coming out of his peripheral vision and leaped out of the way.

Much to Pearl’s surprise, however, Steven lowered his shield at her next attempt to spear him. He then summoned his own whip and proceeded to catch her by her legs and send her tumbling with a quick pull. The slender gem grinned in appreciation of his strategy, but he was then met by Bismuth barreling towards him and trying to grab him. Steven summoned his gauntlets in retaliation and began meeting her fists with his own. Amethyst took the chance as the two clashed to leap out in surprise and bowled right into Steven. As he was flung backwards, however, he regained his senses and forced himself back on his feet and summoned his shield as the pudgy rapscallion charged at him again. Rather than just stopping her charge, however, Steven chucked his shield and sent Amethyst sprawling mid-lunge. Once again, though, he did not have time to revel in his victory as Lapis began circling him high above his head and began pelting him with spheres of water the size of his head.

At first he was able to dodge many of the projectiles, but soon Lapis began thinking outside the box and reshaping the liquid after it hit the ground and soon Steven found himself under fire from every direction. He knew he could summon his bubble to protect himself, but he thought of another solution. Steven instead summoned a spear and began parrying and blocking several shots while still maneuvering around and eventually made his way to Lapis herself where she still proved woefully inept in hand-to-hand combat and was quickly knocked down and out by a few strikes. The others were thrilled by his progress and decided to pass him with flying colors. Even as he was being praised, Steven knew his training was not over and needed to keep improving. One of the first lessons Pearl taught him about war was the battle was never over until either formally surrendered or there was nothing left to oppose. The rest of the day went by with the other gems practicing with each other, Steven pushing his body to his limit and Peridot eventually joining them after making some great progress which she planned to show off tomorrow.

\---

Sure enough, the next day was kicked off with Peridot proclaiming she had made some new technological doodads that could help the Crystal Gems. With Homeworld due to show up tomorrow, they welcomed any advantage they could get. So far she had kept any project of hers secret save for Bismuth who ended up becoming her partner in crime thanks to her experience with construction. The two tinkerers had the entire group, now including Greg, assembled around the new island which held their invention under a bedsheet. Even in the face of a small hostile invasion, Peridot’s sense of dramatics never wavered.

While she wanted to hold off the reveal for dramatic tension, Amethyst urged her to get on with it already and thus let Bismuth reveal their creation - a rectangular box that mostly resembled a common household safe. The only way they could tell it was of any special value was the fluorescent panel made to read handprints instead of numbered keys which was clearly taken from the pillaged gem base.

“Behold! Our very own portable force field! We’ve managed to rewire the panel into a smaller, easily movable form without compromising the integrity of the shield. Observe.”

With a press of her hand on the pad, a massive pink bubble of energy emerged and quickly spread through the house until it eclipsed the walls and soon covered the entire beach house in a translucent pink dome. To reiterate her point, Bismuth then walked outside and began pounding away at the dome with an old axe she forged centuries ago. Despite still looking as sharp as ever, it could not make a dent against the shield even with all her striking force.

“As you can see, we are now safe from any sort of large-scale bombardment or infiltration by Homeworld forces. While it is impervious to external damage, it will allow us to travel between the outdoors and the house without any interference. We’ll need all of you to input your handprints into the scanner so that it will recognize your gem and allow you to enter.”

Bismuth, having already inserted her sample, walked back in with no trouble just as Peridot described. The others all did as she asked, but not without giving her praise as they did so.

“Nice going, dweebs.”

“I’m just grateful we won’t have to resort to building a bunker. We still don’t know what happened to the last four.”

“Sweet.”

In Garnet’s case, a simple thumbs-up sufficed.

Steven, however, instead had a question on his mind. “So what did Bismuth do to make this?”

“I helped engineer the power source. We ended up creating a generator using some of that lightning from Peridot’s room. I also added a security measure in case someone tries to sabotage it, but that’s about it. We were going to use the power source from the base, but we have other plans for that,” responded the bulkier gem. Greg, even though he had no gemstone to classify, walked up to the green techie and whispered to her something none of the others picked up. Apparently he was still having some personal project developed by her which only those two and Bismuth seemed privy to. The others just assumed it was some mundane request and let him discuss it when the time came. He then hastily ran out the door insisting he needed to order more car wax.

The rest of their last free day was uneventful with more training, though there was a noticeable mixture of tension and relief between all of them. They all took solace in that they stood a fighting chance, but that also reminded them that a battle was coming to their doorstep any minute.

\---

It was the day. Their time was finally up. Homeworld was coming any minute and now they had to face the music. They were all aware that while Steven was supposedly their target, they all faced the risk of being hauled off to a different galaxy for their resistance. That was also assuming they avoided being reduced to shards by their opponents baying for their hypothetical blood. The group was all taking this in different ways.

Garnet was, as usual, remaining calm and collected. She was not only their most versatile fighter, but also had a serious element of surprise with her new fire and ice powers that could easily throw their attackers for a loop. The rigid gems on Homeworld already thought she was a war machine, but now she was essentially a mutant in their eyes. Something about that made her smile and want to stick it to them all the more. She could not foresee the outcome of the battle but she knew they would not get Steven until her and both of her components were ash.

Pearl found herself bizarrely nostalgic about the whole affair. This was her life for so long. Facing a mammoth conflict with only a ragtag bunch of oddities, staying optimistic even with death potentially one minute away, never giving up even when the only viable option was to raise the white flag. She could almost laugh at how familiar this all was for her. Even if Rose was not here to fight with them, she knew that gem would be smiling at how far they had all come. Especially Steven whom Pearl was exploding with pride for, even as the fear of his safety invaded her mind.

Amethyst could not be any different from her usual self. In any other scrap, she would be cracking jokes or psyching herself and her buddies up to whoop Homeworld to the next galaxy. She would still crack smart-aleck remarks, but ever since news of the imminent approach of Homeworld she had become mostly quiet. She was hyper-focused on her training, could be found staring at the walls or the floor for minutes on end, and would shrug off any attempt at comfort or concern as she was just thinking. It was the only way the little gem could stomach her anxiety at this point. She hated to admit it, but this was the most afraid she had been in decades.

Bismuth was stressed in the best and the worst ways. On one had she was already slipping back into her groove, ready to show those upper-crusts what she was made out of. They could never break her or her team and were going to pay for trying. On the other hand she knew that same attitude was what landed her in a bubble for several millennia. She could almost certainly Steven would never consider doing such a thing shy of her going rogue, but she was almost more fearful of herself than the coming battle. What if she could not stop from becoming that same reckless gem who hurt someone for no reason?

Peridot and Lapis Lazuli were both more nervous than they had ever been in their entire lives. While both of them proved their worth with the ruby encounter weeks ago, and have refined their skills since then, this was their first real battle. This was bigger than their scuffle with Adamite and Cinnabar, two rogue gems who seemed more lost than truly dangerous. This was a full-scale attack by a force they both intimately knew was capable of wiping out planets. Sure they failed to take the Earth, but that was when Rose Quartz had a small army of her own. There was not enough of them to count off to reach double digits. Peridot was banking on how overconfident the Diamonds were that they would send a weaker force their way. Lapis was trying to put on a brave face so she would not relive that day she flooded the house.

Steven, of all people, was actually ready for Homeworld to show up. He should have been terrified, and to some degree he was, but now he was just sick and tired at how they had put his whole family on edge. He wished there was another way out of this, but those rubies proved that Yellow and Blue Diamond were in no mood for talking. They were out for his head, ready to have him executed for his mother’s crime, and he was not sacrificing himself to them again. The only way he would leave Earth again is on a space adventure with the Crystal Gems or if he was bound, gagged, and dragged off world against his will.

Hours passed as the group alternated between watching out windows for any signs of trouble, standing around the beach house in awkward silence, getting some last-minute training in, or trying to make conversation to lighten the mood. Then, at just before two in the afternoon, the group spotted a familiar conical ship appear in the skyline before descending on them. Besides that there was a few roaming eyes much like the ones Lapis trashed, and some slimmer models that closer resembled jets, but in the shape of diamonds. What they could not see was a second wave of fighters waiting in the atmosphere in case a large-scale airstrike was necessary, but the sight of only a handful of ships gave the group hope. That hope dwindled, however, as many recognized the ship leading the charge. All eight of the Crystal Gems stood on the beach to meet the invading force head on. The ships stopped around fifty feet above the ocean and two figures emerged from the top of the ship. A minuscule flying gem with a teardrop gem on her cheek and a look of pure smugness on her face. Beside her stood a stocky yellow gem with two circular gems in place of ears with a look of complete stoicism.

“Attention Rose Quartz, you are under arrest for the shattering of Pink Diamond, hundreds of other war crimes committed from your former rebellion, and destroying a personal palanquin of the Diamonds. If you surrender now your fellow rebels will be spared, otherwise they will be brought to Homeworld and shattered,” spouted Aquamarine as she literally looked down on them. Topaz was as impassive as ever.

“Ugh, you two again? What are you even doing here?” groaned Steven, clearly unhappy with the pair from his last run-in with them.

“Blue Diamond _personally_ selected me to lead this brigade seeing as I captured you once already. Now are you going to surrender willingly again like an intelligent being or do you insist on fighting back?”

Steven’s only answer was to brandish his shield and take a stance as the others all did the same. The petite commander rolled her eyes and grinned, amused by their defiance.

“Very well then. Topaz, go collect Rose Quartz while the troops fight off the rebel scum.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone get a boxing bell because the fight's gonna start soon!   
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	23. Battle for the Temple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before we begin this chapter, I'd like to answer a question I have seen in the comments at least four times: When is the reveal of Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond going to happen? Yeah, about that...
> 
> That's not happening in this story.
> 
> When I first imagined this story, it was before "A Single Pale Rose" aired and thus I was planning on using my idea for the relationship between the two. After watching that episode (And then picking myself off the floor in shock because WOW!) I thought long and hard about including it, but decided I wanted to avoid copying canon. So, in this story they will be two separate gems. Rest assured, you will get answers to how they interacted in this story later, but I hope this answers all your question.  
> I really am flattered to see so many people interested and asking questions about my work. When I began this story I never imagined it would gain a small following like this and it melts my heart every time I see the number of hits grow. My thanks to each and every one of you.  
> And with that addressed, onwards to the main event!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight time! How will they Crystal Gems handle their first major encounter with Homeworld?

The various ships opened their bottom hatches and allowed dozens of gems to land on the beach. They seemed to be a mostly generic mix of gem fighters with rubies, amethysts and jaspers all lining up to strike down their enemy. Judging from their complacent expressions, they were expecting an easy victory. Aquamarine, confident as ever seeing the numbers advantage, did not even bother getting involved. Instead she laid down on her front and sat her chin in her hands as if this was pleasant musical performance instead of what appeared to be a massacre in the making.

\---

Steven had to fight down the temptation to run back into the beach house and stay in the confines of the force field. Homeworld was not backing down, so why should he? As he watched the dozens of belligerent soldiers charge onto the sand and begin meeting the Crystal Gems in combat, he spotted Topaz leap off the main ship and charge towards him. He really wished she had not shown up, since he could see a gem desperate to break free from Homeworld. Alas, the pair proved too afraid to leave and remained loyal to the Diamonds. He could respect that sort of dedication and the apparent love the duo had for each other, but that did not mean he would hold back.

Just as they did last time, Topaz split into her two components and continued to bolt towards him ready to capture him in their fused body. He decided to run straight towards them and, just as the two tried to fuse with him stuck in the middle, jumped up to eye level, brought out a gauntlet and nailed one of them in face.

He still murmured a silent apology as the stricken gem flew for over thirty feet, causing her partner to drop her detached expression for one of absolute shock. It was obvious she wanted to run to her other half, but the left-gemmed Topaz simply summoned her pugil stick and made a move. The young hybrid began drawing on his training with Garnet and Bismuth, using his smaller size to his benefit and bobbing and weaving around every strike. Just as he began to feel confident in his ability, the right half re-entered the fray and made the fight two on one. Now he had a severe disadvantage, but soon realized the others were in a similar spot.

Pearl and Garnet had their backs to each other as half a dozen jaspers tried to clobber them with either crash helmets much like the same jasper they fought months ago or with large, flat swords that looked more fitting for beheadings than straightforward combat. He could already see multiple other orange gems either frozen in various places or trying to fight despite visible burns, but it was apparent their tricks were going to run out. They could potentially fuse into Sardonyx to level the playing field, but the relentless attack stopped them from focusing long enough to pull off the fusion dance.

Peridot was squaring off with a small squadron of rubies who, similarly to the ones they fought earlier, were quickly getting frustrated at how a lowly technician was besting professional fighters in combat. It helped that Peridot was manipulating dozens of tools from her workshop in a barrage of hammers, saws and screwdrivers to keep her enemies distracted while also dealing out a fair share of pain.

Bismuth was keeping her head level as four amethysts tried to beat her into submission. Unfortunately for her opponents, the veteran was keeping them guessing with the various shapes her hands could take which threw of their focus and left them open to counterattack. She even seemed to be throwing the occasional taunt to further the distraction and keep herself in one piece.

Amethyst was fighting like a caged animal, clearly disturbed and looking ready to jump out of her own skin at any moment. As she tried to hold off multiple amethysts and rubies at the same time, she was zipping all over the beach and flinging the Homeworld gems into each other like multicolored bowling pins. Even as she seemed on top of the situation, her face was full of clear anxiety and fear. Her eyes kept darting over to her friends, but worried that too much time spent lingering would mean her death.

Lapis Lazuli was also suffering from obvious anxiety, but was actually taking control of the situation. Despite being surrounded by half a dozen Homeworld gems consisting of multiple jaspers, which greatly disturbed her in just how eager they seemed to hurt her, she fought through the discomfort and sent many of them flying with the ocean. She put her weeks of training into action as she summoned literal blocks of water to squash them, razor-sharp discs to slice their forms and chains to incapacitate them long enough for her to drag them out to sea. Unfortunately her opponents was remarkably stubborn with some simply swimming back to continue the slugfest. With her lack of hand-to-hand training, she knew they would have already beaten her in a straight fight.

All the while Steven was still locked in a battle with Topaz. He hoped somewhere deep down the gems were holding back, but it seemed they had no choice but obey the order to take him hostage. Over and over again they tried the same tactic of fusing together with him stuck in the middle and over and over again he sent one or even both of them reeling. Even if he was holding his own, he could feel that adrenaline was one of the only things keeping his body in top shape. He was already sweating and could feel his limbs start to ache from the constant maneuvering. Had it not been for Garnet making him run laps around town or do so many squats he would already be down for the count. He made a mental note to start eating more granola after this was all said and done.

\---

Aquamarine was sorely disappointed. She assumed that when the Crystal Gems decided to resist capture, the entire affair would be over and done with in an instant. Yet here they were, several minutes later, outnumbered at least four to one and they kept going! She scoffed at the nerve of those traitors. Her entertainment was officially ruined and that imbecilic clod Topaz still did not have Rose Quartz in custody. She briefly contemplated entering the fray herself, using her gravity wand to retrieve Rose, but that did not seem appropriate. Perhaps some grand gesture to crush their spirits? Yes, that seemed most appropriate to her. She sprouted her wings and fluttered back into the ship and immediately contacted the scouting ship in orbit.

“Satellite Scanner VL4 reporting,” spoke the voice of the ship’s agate supervisor, “We have spotted a force field protecting the main entrance to the rebels’ base. Although constructed from outdated gem technology, it must be deactivated before any large-scale attack.”

Aquamarine grit her teeth. So those rebels actually had some basic defenses? Fine by her, she would enjoy it more if she could power through their shields and then pulverize them.

“Have you been able to get a scan of the structure despite the force field?” she asked the agate.

“Affirmative, the structure is unremarkable save for an active warp pad being inside. Near it is a pocket-space doorway that we have not been able to analyze the contents of.”

“Perfect! Send in a squad of infiltrators through the warp pad and get that shield lowered. Once that is done, send in the bulk of our forces. That will be all.”

With that, Aquamarine giggled maliciously as she waited to see the pink dome fall. Once Topaz had Rose Quartz in custody, then she would make her watch her own forces be destroyed. Then she would drag her back to the Diamonds, have her executed and she would receive a promotion and maybe even her own fleet to command instead of just one ship. The diminutive captain kept her eyes on the battle with renewed interest, waiting for the moment to snuff out the rebellion once and for all.

\---

All factors considered, the Crystal Gems were impressed at how well they were holding up. Even still, they knew they would lose a war of attrition and needed to gain an advantage somehow or they would fall. Eventually they all managed to gather their group into one tight circle with the Homeworld gems surrounding them. Steven was still focused on Topaz, her expression once again blank. The other soldiers were clearly irritated at how much time this was taking and how stubbornly their enemy was refusing to go down.

For many seconds they remained silent until all heck broke loose. Steven was met with Topaz and two other amethysts moving in to catch him. Now his reflexes were being pushed to their limits as he blocked the three oncoming attackers with his shield while also keeping an eye out for more opponents.

That seemed unlikely, however, as the rest kept their heads up despite the chaos emerging once again as gems weaved in and out of battles so quickly it was impossible to keep track of it all. A few select highlights include Pearl double-wielding spears to hold off a pair of particularly aggressive jaspers, Lapis and Peridot staying by each other’s side as almost a dozen rubies ambushed them and Garnet unleashing the full brunt of her elemental abilities resulting in several unfortunate gems being either scorched until they retreated into their cores or being frozen into submission before quickly being smashed into submission.

Steven was proud of all of them and, although a part of him always protested fighting, found a bizarre thrill in all of this. He could only imagine how his mother and the others felt in the old days fighting like this on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, his reminiscing gave one of the invaders the opportunity to break his guard with a punch right to the gut. As he clutched his gem in pain, the now-fused Topaz raised her staff to knock him unconscious only to feel a whip grab her by the neck and force her on her knees.

“Steven, get out of here! Run away!” shouted Amethyst as she struggled to hold back the larger gem. As Steven heeded her command to retreat into the beach house so he could get his bearings, the two Homeworld amethysts noticed the small scrapper with a look of amusement.

“Heh, look at that runt. Must have come out of the ground wrong!” one of them jeered as Amethyst’s whip snapped allowing Topaz to chase after the dazed Steven. Before she could pursue, the other one got her attention.

“Guess that traitor Rose doesn’t mind having rejects on her team. Let’s show that defect what a real quartz can do!”

The short rebel felt her fear melt away as rage overtook her mind and blindly charged at the two larger gems. Now she was only concerned on letting Steven get to relative safety and showing these blowhards who was boss. She charged right at them with a spin attack only for the two to dodge without much effort.

Both of them summoned whips of their own and began snapping at the smaller gem as she rolled around at her maximum speed. Realizing a direct approach was not working, Amethyst leaped straight into the air and then cannonballed back down in her purple puma form. The Homeworld gems were surprised by her sudden change of size long enough for her to elbow drop them hard enough to send them back into their gems. After quickly bubbling the two and sending them into the temple, Amethyst ran off to rejoin the fray with some of her confidence restored. Maybe she had what it took to survive this insane battle after all.

\---

Steven could still feel the wind being knocked out of him by Topaz, but managed to stumble into the force field and sit down on the porch. He regretted leaving his family to fight for themselves, but he knew they would all have him take a breather rather than risk being grabbed when he is at less than his best.

As he got his head put back together, he heard a clang as Topaz ran headfirst into the barrier. The yellow fusion quickly got back on her feet and began swinging her mace staff at the pink dome to no avail. Steven merely sat and watched as she struggled to make a dent for several minutes before he commented.

“Don’t waste your time. There’s no breaking this thing. You shouldn’t exhaust yourself like that.”

This made Topaz pause and stare at him with one of her eyebrows raised in confusion. Here she was trying to drag him to certain death and he was concerned about her well-being? It reminded her of the first time they met and he seemed to genuinely sympathize with her. It made no sense to her. His later statements only made her more perturbed.

“Look, I know it’s hard. You feel like you have nowhere to go, but that’s not the case. I can tell you’d rather be somewhere else. Somewhere you’re accepted and can be happy.”

Now the gem just stood there totally lost. Steven made his way down the steps, though staying behind the force field, and looked up to her.

“Earth can be that place. We won’t judge you here, we won’t separate you, and we’ll be happy to have you. I know you’re scared of the Diamonds and being forced apart, but we’d never do that to you. I’ve seen how miserable you are and I’m sorry I didn’t make this offer last time, but you can stay with us. Topaz, you can be a Crystal Gem and stay together forever.”

The fusion actually put down her weapon hearing that. It almost sounded too good to be true, but his face conveyed absolute sincerity. She could hardly believe it. A place where no one would threaten to separate them? Where no one would use the relationship between them to pull them around? Even after everything she has done?

Before she could give her response, however, Steven heard something coming in through the warp pad and rushed inside. He was stumped as to what it could be, but he quickly understood as he saw four peridots wearing limb enhancers now standing in his home. He locked eyes with the technicians for a second before two of them turned their artificial fingers into laser cannons and began firing at him while one of them ran over to the force field generator. The last stood at the temple door and attached a bizarre circular device on the door that began drawing a holographic image of the temple in midair. Steven, despite having no idea it was transmitting information back to the scouting ship and to Aquamarine, knew it was trouble and tried to get his bearings.

“Oh come on! We just remodeled the place!” he shouted in exasperation as he ducked behind the island as the two enhanced invaders kept firing. While the damage seemed mostly cosmetic, he did not want to keep seeing his home demolished.

“Surrender yourself to Homeworld and this assault will cease,” droned one of the attacking peridots. Already knowing him giving up was not an option, Steven jumped on top of the island with his shield in hand and charged for the two green invaders. He pushed himself forward even as the barrage grew heavier and eventually bashed one in the face with a shield. The other quickly took to the sky using the same helicopter maneuver the Crystal Gem Peridot used to escape them. Steven felt as if he was at a disadvantage until Bismuth stormed in, hearing the carnage from outside, and tackled the flying gem to the ground.

“Get off me, you traitor!” screamed the peridot underneath Bismuth. The larger gem was not amused.

“I may be a traitor, but at least I don’t let technology fight my battles. Now get out of our house!” She then proceeded to pound the smaller gem’s head in with her hammer until she receded into her gem. Meanwhile Steven kept up the attack on the other peridot until she was forced into her gem as well by repeated shield smacks.

Before the two could celebrate, the peridot analyzing the force field generator seemed to make a breakthrough as she removed one of her enhancers to scan her hand. That proved to be a mistake.

“Unknown gem signature detected. Initiating defensive measures,” spoke the recorded voice of Peridot before an electric shock caused the offending peridot to retreat into her stone as well. The lone survivor of the attack now looked incredibly skittish as she stood against two irritated rebels.

“Stay back! I’m not afraid to use this!” she threatened while pointing the laser cannon at them. Bismuth, now thoroughly done with this entire meeting, walked right up to the intruder and ripped off the enhancer on one of her hands, then dragged her away and forced her to touch the generator. One painful static shock later and the house was clear once again. The four peridots were soon bubbled and sent inside the temple proper.

“Thanks Bismuth, that was too close,” complimented Steven as he walked up the device which now displayed a full image of the temple. Before he or Bismuth could do anything though, it spontaneously deactivated and fell to the floor.

“No problem, but we need you back outside. Do whatever you need to do, then head out.” With the scuffle finished, Bismuth ran back outside into the main fray. That left Steven alone in the house for a few seconds before charging back outside looking to aid the other Crystal Gems. Topaz, still standing outside, stood rooted in the same spot as she contemplated the boy’s offer from before.

\---

Aquamarine possessed many wonderful qualities, but patience was not one of them. She was still glued to the battle in front of her waiting for that accursed bubble to drop so she could bombard the rebels and claim victory. And yet she had not heard a single word from the scout ship regarding the infiltration efforts. What was taking those simpletons so long?! Her mental grumbling was interrupted by an incoming message from the scouting satellite.

“We have lost all trace of the peridot infiltrators. Their limb enhancers have been deactivated, meaning they have been captured or potentially shattered. We have no discernible cause for why they were defeated.”

The undersized commander felt her rage hit a new high at this. She was about to insist they send every available gem that ship had into the rebel base and demolish it from the inside out, but she forced herself to calm down.

“Any luck scanning the base interior for information?”

“Affirmative. We have a full schematic of the base. We have found several captured gems in one of the lower levels.”

That got Aquamarine’s attention. If they could not deactivate the force field, they could rescue the captured gems and get more troops to overwhelm the gems with. And it would still prove their flimsy defenses were no match for her brilliance! All this brought the petite commander to full stature again.

“Find a way to recover those gems, but do not send in any more troops. I suspect that Rose had one of her minions intervene and stop the infiltration. We can’t risk those rebels getting involved again. That will be all, agate.”

In reality, Aquamarine knew they could spare another peridot or two. After all, they were relatively quick to replace. No, she thought it would be oh so fitting to prove it was so easy to undermine the rebellion that machines could do it. While the chaos continued down on the beach, a dozen retrieval robonoids were sent in through the warp stream with the schematic of the temple downloaded onto their memory banks. They quickly forced the temple door to reveal the burning room where hundreds of bubbled gems sat ripe for the picking. The retrieval droids then summoned tractor beams to pull in several of the bubbles back to the warp pad where the returned to the scouter in orbit.

To make the whole deal even sweeter, Aquamarine was able to watch the whole process through her monitor as the robonoids recorded every step. The miniature mastermind laughed in glee as gem after gem was lifted into space right under Rose Quartz’s nose. In only a few minutes every bubble was recovered and accounted for.

“Mission completed, Aquamarine. The rebels suspect nothing. We are already cataloging all of the gems, but have noticed many are flawed or broken. Several dozen will have to be disposed of.”

The tiny tyrant could only shrug. It only made sense that someone as dysfunctional and distasteful as Rose would harbor deficient and obsolete gems. Aquamarine was already scanning through the results on the main screen with a look of disgust at the sight of so many imperfections. Her expression changed, however, upon seeing two unfamiliar stones. One was a green pentagon while the other was a reddish-orange circle, but neither rang a bell with her.

“Agate, run these two stones by a database. I’m curious to know what Rose got her hands on.”

Her wish was quickly granted as the computer laid out the two were elemental gems once used for terraforming planets, but have long since been discontinued do to advances in technology. Aquamarine was now very intrigued and decided to see these two gems in person. Her ship could literally be up there in a flash, so why not? She figured this battle would be over by the time she got back.

And so, literally seconds later, Aquamarine parked her vessel next to the scouting ship and was escorted to one of the few holding cells on board where two bubbled gems waited. The compact commander released them from their prisons and found the two gems oddly humorous.

“Uhh, where are we? What hit me?” groaned Cinnabar as her head still spun from the punch Garnet knocked her out with. Her partner Adamite was, as usual, the one who was up to speed.

“You must be the acting leader of the Homeworld fleet sent to retrieve us. I am the gem who initiated contact with you.”

“Ah yes, Blue Diamond did mention you called us through some old-fashioned communicator. Well, congratulations for taking one of those rebels hostage.”

“I am deeply regretful in saying we lost custody of Rose Quartz’s protégé. We were attacked by a superior opponent who possessed abilities we had no way to counter. We promise we will find a way to accommodate and benefit the Diamonds.” Adamite even felt the remnants of Garnet shocking her as she spoke that, but Aquamarine began chortling at their effort.

“Oh, I’m sure you will. At least now you two are back where you belong.” With a touch of a button, the plasma wall of the cell activated trapping the elemental gems inside. Confusion and panic quickly set in as they were caught completely off guard.

“Hey what gives?! Why are you holding us prisoner?” shouted Cinnabar as she tried banging on the plasma only to get a nasty shock. She then launched a column of flame at it, but to no avail.

“Oh my, you two ARE behind the times, huh? It’s quite simple, really. Homeworld has many protocols for how to deal with outdated gems,” Aquamarine smirked. For once, Adamite took offense to the comment and tried to summon some earth to attack with only to remember they were on an aerial vessel in the planet’s orbit. This made her temple flare up even more.

“‘Outdated?!’ We are two loyal gems who only seek to serve the greater good of gem society! If you have misconstrued that our extended stay on a foreign planet has corrupted our intentions you are sorely mistaken. I assure you Cinnabar and I will do everything in our abilities to make our allegiance clear.”

The sole gem outside the cell seemed to ponder her words for a moment, but quickly resumed her snide chuckling as if Adamite were oblivious to some hilarious joke.

“That’s _wonderful_ , but I assure you that your allegiance is irrelevant at this point. You see, we haven’t produced any gems like you in ages and we have no need of you since we have technology to terraform planets. To put is shortly, you two are obsolete. The best use you can be to us is being harvested.”

Both captive gems seemed disturbed by that last word, but were equally unsure about what it meant. Aquamarine rolled her eyes and explained.

“It means once we get back to Homeworld we are going to have you two shattered and broken down to your base components so we can create more actually useful gems for our cause. Now, if that’s all cleared up, I need to clean up the last of the resistance and get Rose Quartz. Hey, who knows, maybe you’ll be harvested alongside those traitors? You are all relics in some form after all!” And with that disparaging comment, Aquamarine returned to her ship and quickly traveled back to Earth. That left the duo of prisoners to realize one major issue.

They were going to die and it was entirely their fault.

“Adamite?” choked Cinnabar, for once letting her insecurities through and appearing close to tears.

“Yes Cinnabar?”

“I want to go back to Earth now.” Adamite could only agree as they stared out the view-port showing the planet they sought to leave for so long suddenly looked appealing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a twist! Eh? Eh?  
> Unoriginal jokes aside, how will they get out of this one? Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	24. Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the continuation of the Crystal Gems versus Homeworld. Featuring everyone's least favorite annoying blue British butterfly!

The continued battle had taken some unexpected turns as it carried on. The Crystal Gems were forced to fight a war of attrition thanks to their lower numbers and were quickly losing steam as the Homeworld forces never wavered. There was also the major disadvantage that they were not trying to spill any shards, but they all soon dreaded that permanently ending the lives of several Homeworld gems may be the only way they could survive. There only major advantage was the battlefield which, while it was serving them well as it gave them shelter from the opposition’s heavy artillery, would only matter so much.

The Crystal Gems decided to take a brief reprieve from the battle by staying within the boundaries of the force field, a fact which greatly upset the assembled invaders. The only exception was Topaz who seemed completely frozen after Steven’s heart-to-heart. They shouted and jeered at them as they regained their breath. Peridot, Lapis and Steven in particular were feeling the strain, being the most unfamiliar with war. To make matters worse, Garnet had gone inside the temple on a vision and returned soon after with grave news.

“All of the bubbled gems are gone. Homeworld must have stolen them somehow.”

“WHAT?!” shouted Bismuth and Pearl, both knowing that many of those captured gems were fallen comrades from the old days. The others looked more disturbed at how they had managed such a heist without raising any suspicion. That is until Bismuth remembered an earlier event and felt her spirits drop like a stone.

“They sent something through the warp pad. They tried to shut down the force field by sending some peridots in the same way.” The blacksmith felt guilt override her as she felt responsible. She told Steven to get back into the fray when she could have told him to stay in and monitor the pad in case they pulled another stunt.

“Wait, how could they just override the warp pad? Is that even possible?” asked Amethyst, hoping that this was all some misunderstanding.

“Take it from someone who spent centuries repairing these, it’s very possible. As long as the pad is undamaged and no interference is present in the warp stream, there’s nothing stopping Homeworld from sending something else,” informed Peridot, who quickly realized the gravity of the situation. The others all looked at the pad, now realizing how it could be a massive liability. Amethyst in particular looked ready to flee as if a bomb was set to appear at any minute, but Garnet tried to lighten the mood.

“Everyone relax. We have enough to worry about now without that. Peridot and Bismuth, you two get to work on a way to secure it after this battle is over. We still have Homeworld knocking on our door and we need to prioritize. There’s no point working on a hypothetical when there’s a definite problem in front of us.”

“Garnet’s right, as usual,” agreed Pearl, “The issue there is we can only hold out for so long. We need to make a climactic move to turn the tide or else we will be overrun.”

“What about a fusion? Opal, Sardonyx, even Sugilite could be helpful, right?” suggested Steven, but Garnet quickly shot down the idea.

“That will get Aquamarine’s attention and doom us. One flick of her wrist and any fusion we have is incapacitated. Even Alexandrite was no match for her.”

“Well then… What about a different fusion? There’s seven of us here, maybe some combination will work?” spoke Lapis, much to the surprise of most of the group. As the one who seemed most uncomfortable with the concept a few days ago, it was incredibly bold on her part. Alas that too was shot down, this time by Pearl.

“While that might be the case, now is not the time to gamble. There are dozens of combinations and again it would still raise that little midget’s suspicion. She’d just use that wand to freeze us and then who knows what would happen.”

Steven put his hand in Lapis’ for the thought, but the gesture meant little in the face of the odds. Just as the considered taking more desperate measures, they looked outside and noticed Aquamarine’s vessel fly out of sight. While they could only guess why, the others saw this as the perfect opportunity.

“Well, that’s convenient,” smirked Peridot. The others could not agree more.

Trying to make the most of the opportunity, the three quickly deliberated on the fusions for the situation and ran out to the porch. They were quickly met by a collection of smug looks and taunts from the assembled invaders who were ready to end their mission and return to their everyday duties.

“Hah, what’s the matter traitors?” shouted one vocal ruby, “You ready to come back to Homeworld and face your crimes?”

“Get out here and face us, cowards!” quipped a particularly annoyed jasper.

“What, aren’t you big enough to accept your loss or do we need to stomp you some more?!” added a cocky amethyst. Pearl had to chuckle at the irony of the last statement.

At that moment the Crystal Gems, save for Bismuth, paired off and began three separate dances. The others assumed they had all lost their minds or were just taunting them until the forms of Pearl and Garnet melded into a single being of light which flew out of the barrier and into a massive four-armed fusion wearing evening attire.

“Oh, well if the audience wants a BIGGER challenge, I will gladly oblige,” spoke the eloquent voice of Sardonyx who noticed the now terrified circle of gems around her. Suddenly their number advantage meant nothing in the face of this surreal new opponent. Their terror only grew as Steven and Amethyst fused and joined the fray as well as the jubilant Smoky Quartz.

“Now, Sardonyx, darling, that’s not fair! Let’s give these guys a fighting chance! I think your stage presence is making them nervous!” The terror among of the enemy gems grew tenfold at the sight of the three-armed fusion. Just as they thought it could not get any worse, Peridot and Lapis Lazuli (using an admittedly rather awkward dance that was a combination of beginner’s ballroom dancing and the robot) merged into Turquoise and flew out of the force field on wings of liquid metal.

“You know, from down here you look almost comical. I suppose that happens when your leading officer is moronic enough to leave in the middle of the fight,” quipped the flying fusion as the Homeworld horde finally felt their chances at winning hit zero and broke into a panic. Some started wildly swinging at the assembled fusions while others turned tail and ran for the ships.

“Oh come on now, the show is just starting!” chastised Sardonyx as she leaped dozens of feet into the air and summoned her war-hammer mid-flight, “At least give us a chance before you ship out!” She then laughed her signature laugh as she tore through one of the still fighters like it was tissue paper and sent into slamming into the ocean. The pilot, a black and green gem with a single eye, ejected from the cockpit but soon found herself running for her life from the towering fusion that continued to smash the ships with hardly any effort. Before long the entire ground force of the supposed “invasion” was running for the hills.

“Aw, I hope you all have room for more, because I’ve got an act that will _blow_ you away!” cheered Smoky Quartz as she summoned three of her signature battle yo-yos and began creating a massive gust of wind. Try as many of the Homeworld gems might, all of them bowled away from the beach house and forced back to the cliff side by the gust.

“I would concoct some sort of pun for this scenario, but the looks of resignation and anger on your face will be more than entertaining enough,” smirked Turquoise as she forced the crashed gem vessels out of the ocean and began melting them down to liquid. As the frightened attackers were pushed all the way back into the rock upon seeing an enormous blob of liquid metal, Turquoise soon shaped all of it into a massive prison cell using the cliff as the rear wall. The few gems who tried to run were quickly smacked back in line by Smoky Quartz with a yo-yo to the face. In only seconds approximately sixty gems were trapped in a forty-food long cell made of their own reconfigured aircraft. Sardonyx applauded at the sight.

“My, my, what an incredible display! I believe that concludes our performance today, unless the audience has any requests?”

“Let us out, you bunch of disgusting freaks! When Homeworld hears of this, you’re all as good as shattered!” shouted a particularly testy jasper.

“Hm, that is a valid point,” admitted the tuxedo-clad fusion, “Thankfully I have the perfect new display to leave you all speechless!”

She then held out her two right hands and released a massive blast of ice which soon enveloped the shell. The panicked screams of the enemy gems were quickly silenced as they were all frozen solid and ready to be bubbled later. After a brief marveling of her handiwork, Sardonyx bid everyone adieu and returned to Pearl and Garnet. Smoky Quartz and Turquoise soon followed leaving the seven Crystal Gems in a state of shock as they contemplated they had actually won the battle.

\---

Aquamarine and the agate in charge of Satellite Scouter XL4 picked both the best and worst time to check on the battle down on Earth’s surface. What was supposed to be a simple retrieval that perhaps involved a light skirmish had turned into a humiliating defeat. By a bunch of gems performing such loathsome, vile fusions that it made the two sick to their cores. They watched as the group broke into an impromptu celebration, cheering and hugging each other on the beach. That was the last straw for Aquamarine who felt her rage boil over and screamed so loudly the agate next to her felt her ears ringing.

“THAT TEARS IT! Send in all our fighters, call for backup, get one of the Diamonds down here! I don’t care what it takes, that Rose Quartz will. Be. SHATTERED! Get a line to Homeworld double time while I try to fix this mess!”

“A-At once, Aquamarine,” responded the larger gem, fearing for her safety. Just before she could get the transmission started, though, the boom of an explosion shocked them.

“What in the cosmos was that?!” asked Aquamarine, wondering how this situation could get any worse.

“Our scanners detect nothing, but it could have been an enemy fighter firing at us.” Her answer came soon as one of the gem fighters exploded suddenly and the two caught a glimpse of yellow blur speeding by.

“Correction, it _is_ an enemy fighter. One of gem construction, but most likely commandeered by the rebels.”

That news brought the petite captain to a new level of infuriated. Those clods actually had advanced weaponry?! This just got better and better. The situation continued to grow direr as two fighters were given the order to break formation and shoot down the rogue aircraft. They were almost instantly outmaneuvered and blasted into smithereens.

“You have got to be kidding me!” shouted Aquamarine as she watched more fighters try to intercept the enemy vessel before it could attack the scout ship. Alas, as she watched two more ships get laser-blasted into oblivion she quickly decided a retreat was in order.

“Get yourself and all these gems back to Homeworld for harvesting. Tell the fighters to immediately attack the rebels on Earth. That ought to throw off that ship of theirs and wipe out Rose’s insufferable drones in one swoop.”

The head agate soon relayed the order for all the independent fighters to immediately break formation and descend on Earth. Aquamarine flew at top speed, which honestly was not much due to her tiny wingspan, but soon found the ship rumbling as the unknown ship continued firing on them.

As she passed by the cell containing the despondent Adamite and Cinnabar, she felt a small lump of joy emerge as she stared at the duo too lost in their despair to notice the barrage hitting them.

“Well, it looks like you two outdated freaks don’t have to worry about being harvested anymore. You’ll get blown up instead! Hah!” Adamite was not amused by this comment.

“If I had access to any form of rock I would gladly bury you in enough rubble to suffocate your insufferable voice. And then I’d let you be Cinnabar’s plaything once someone unearthed you.” The fiery gem only grinned for a second before returning to her hopelessness. The sneer on Aquamarine’s face grew larger.

“Well it’s a shame that you’re stuck in there. Because as long as that plasma wall holds, you are completely helpless-”

Apparently fate had it in for the squat commander as the onslaught by the hostile fighter necessitated the agate in charge to reroute power from all supplementary systems to bolster the shields long enough for their nova thrusters to reach light speed and escape. One of those systems was the holding cells.

Adamite and Cinnabar stared at the flying nuisance for a brief second in shock before the former slammed her against the wall with her burly fist and the latter gleefully ran down the hall leaving a smoke trail behind her.

“Where’s an escape pod?” uttered through her clenched teeth.

“Why should I tell you? There’s no rock to control here,” spat Aquamarine, but regretted that as Adamite’s other hand gripped her head and applied a disturbing amount of force.

“Because if you refuse to tell me, I’ll let Cinnabar torch every gem aboard this ship. I’m the only one who can control her impulses, and if that is not enough motivation, I could also crush you in an instant. You are a pathetic, sniveling, waste of resources and I sincerely doubt even your own subordinates will miss you. Now answer my question before I grind you to pieces and my partner starts demolishing this ship.”

As much as she tried, Aquamarine could not find a way to wriggle out of her grip or reach her wand and reluctantly confessed that the escape pods were on the left starboard side of the craft. Adamite delivered a crushing punch to the sneering gem’s body for good measure before running off. She spent several seconds on the floor as the laser fire from the invading ship continue outside and one of the escape pods being launched. For once being silent, she returned to her own ship and made a beeline for the rebel base.

\---

“Man, I’ve gotta try fusion sometime,” remarked Bismuth as the group basked in their hard-earned victory. All seven of them were resting on the beach after such an intense fight and relished the quiet after an unending barrage that took up their afternoon. A few of them honestly could not believe they had come out unscathed, but all of them were thanking their lucky stars and appreciating every moment of training. Steven, however, caught sight of Topaz who still in the same spot at the foot of the stairs outside the force field. The others were wary, but figured she would have attacked by now if she were hostile.

“So, what’s your decision?” asked the boy, much to the confusion of the others. He then explained his encounter with the fusion during his unwanted jaunt to Homeworld weeks ago, and how she was desperate for sanctuary from the grasp of the Diamonds. The others were all touched, especially Garnet once she heard about how Homeworld used their relationship as leverage to force obedience.

The others all looked at the stocky yellow fusion with kinder eyes than Topaz had ever seen, and realized she had truly found a new home.

“You… really mean it? We can stay and be together here?” spoke the fusion for the first time since her arrival on Earth. While a few were taken aback at her high voice, they all smiled in support.

Steven reached out his hand. “Of course. If Homeworld won’t recognize how special you are, we will. Welcome to the Crystal Gems.”

Before the yellow fusion could accept the offer, however, Aquamarine’s ship came roaring into view followed by several combat fighters. The tender moment was quickly brought to an end as the group realized that the miniscule captain had brought backup.

“Everyone inside!” commanded Garnet as laser fire bombarded the beach, apparently ignoring that one of their own was still in the line of fire. Topaz tried to run inside with the rest only to ram into the barrier and was forced to duck under the fire as Aquamarine and over a dozen maddened troops ran out carrying portable destabilizers.

“Rose Quartz, this ends NOW!” shrieked Aquamarine, “You and all your traitors either exit your base and come quietly or we’ll open fire! That shield’s going to fall eventually!”

As she ranted and raved at the Crystal Gems standing on the patio under the protection of the pink force field, she caught sight of Topaz and her anger intensified.

“And as for you, you useless sack of minerals, I’ll have you court martialed! Both of you have been a complete failure on this mission! I hope one of you ends up shattered and the other is forced to watch for your incompetence!”

“Hey! Don’t yell at her!” shouted Steven, his temper flaring at the flagrant verbal abuse.

“Oh, you think you can corrupt her just like the rest of your pitiful little band? Well why don’t you stop hiding and prove it?”

“Steven, don’t let her bait you!” reminded Pearl as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, that’s hilarious! The pearl giving advice on anything besides how to hold open a door! What next, is she going to sing into submission?!” Pearl then had Garnet place a hand on her shoulder as the slender gem felt her urge to kill rising.

“You’re all even dumber than I thought if you honestly think you could survive this! Even if you beat us, we have millions of gems ready to tear you apart! Heck, we might even just blow up the whole planet and be done with the lot of you! Now come out her willingly or we’ll start testing how much laser fire that little shield of yours can withstand!”

The stress in the air was palpable between the two sides as the Crystal Gems were once again outnumbered, though less so this time, but now the forces were armed with weapons that would render them inert with a single hit. And now they actively had heavy-duty weapons pointed at them and Aquamarine’s full attention. If that accursed wand could stop Alexandrite dead in her tracks, what chance did they have split up? In the end, however, they knew this was an uphill battle. They considered their earlier victory a miracle by every meaning of the word and they all agreed they would go down fighting if worst came to worst.

No one knew exactly how long their standoff was, but it ended abruptly as Aquamarine undid the bow in her hair and formed her dreaded gravity wand. The Crystal Gems and even some of her own troops raised their eyebrows at this since they had no idea how it would affect a force field, but the answer to that question never came. Instead a blue beam of light shot out and ensnared Topaz. The stocky fusion was immediately rendered immobile and was forcefully lifted several stories in the air.

“Hey, what are you doing?! She’s one of your own!” shouted Steven, outrage and shock overwhelming his sense of reason.

“Well, since you seem to be so partial to her, and she clearly needs a lesson in discipline, this solves both problems. Now either you come out or I drag this traitor back to the ship and have her arrested for fraternizing with an enemy of the Diamonds.”

Steven and his family were disgusted. They knew Aquamarine was callous, but this was a new level of deplorable. The jaspers and amethysts surrounding the tiny tyrant remained impassive and brandished their destabilizers. They all knew this was a trap.

But that did not stop Steven from charging headfirst with his shield in one hand and a spear in the other, his patience gone and itching for a fight for the first time in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to have this be the end of it, but I just couldn't fit it all into one chapter! Tune in next time to see what happens!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	25. Consequences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously on How It Will End: Aquamarine ruined everything!  
> And now the thrilling conclusion!

Steven was finding out more and more that wearing his heart on his sleeves had a handful of disadvantages. It made him very vulnerable to these types of situations and he could not help but remember how he was forced to cooperate with Adamite’s demands thanks to her holding Greg hostage. He knew deep down he would have to correct this or one day it would be his undoing.

At this exact moment, however, he was more concerned with barreling straight for Aquamarine, still holding her own subordinate hostage high above her head in with her wand, his desire for a peaceful solution gone. He barely noticed the small brigade of enemy gems standing between him and his enemy.

The other six Crystal Gems had no choice but to follow him into the fray lest he end up in Homeworld’s clothes. Although the fight may have been more even in numbers, now their opponents were all equipped with weapons that would destroy their forms with a single hit. The odds were still against them, but when has that ever stopped them?

The two sides met in a frenzy as the assembled amethysts and jaspers tried to force their rebellious enemies back into their cores, only to be met with surprising resistance. This was most especially the case with Steven as he stormed right through any unfortunate gem who got too close. Several unfortunate gems found themselves being swatted away by his shield and sent soaring by his strength. Others were impaled by his spear and forced into their gems themselves. Had any of them been paying specific attention, however, they may have noticed that the destabilizers were barely fazing him. Instead of being poofed into nothingness, all he got was a mildly uncomfortable shock that only agitated him further.

He eventually broke through the line and came face-to-face with a still-smirking Aquamarine. Above her Topaz could only look down and silently pray this debacle would end without her being ripped apart.

“Put her down NOW!” shouted Steven. The petite commander was very amused by his anger.

“Oh really now Rose, you could at least say please,” she chided, “Proper etiquette is a valuable skill. Maybe when you put in front of the Diamonds this time, they’ll lighten your punishment if you act nicely!”

“I’m not going on trial again. I got out of there once, and I’ll do it again. Just put Topaz down before I have to hurt you.” He summoned a pair of gauntlets to emphasize his point, but that still did not worry the pint-sized commander.

“Really? Then maybe you’ll be more cooperative with some incentive,” as she spoke, several of the gem fighters that arrived with Aquamarine turned towards the incapacitated gem above her. The front points of the vessels began to glow as their laser cannons were primed. Both Steven and Topaz realized the situation and began to panic.

“You can’t do that! She’s your personal bodyguard, or partner, or something important! Homeworld won’t let you get away with that!” faltered Steven as the fury he just had vanished. Topaz actually began to breathe sporadically above them, not that Aquamarine could hear it over how hard she was rolling her eyes at Steven’s unwilling naiveté.

“Wow, you really ARE dense. Topaz is as disposable as almost any other gem. All it would take is a quick explanation that it was a necessary bargaining tactic and it will fly through the system without any gem raising an eye. Getting a new pair of topazes should take no effort. If you place some sort of special precedence to these two, you are as random as you are foolish. Now hand yourself over or else she becomes target practice.”

All throughout her little spiel, Steven tried to find the words to convince her this was wrong. So wrong he could feel bile rising in his throat from the sheer audacity of it all, but nothing came. He could tell she was not bluffing. He could just barely hear Topaz having a panic attack at the horror of this. He could not even shed a tear since he was so consumed by paralyzing fear. For a brief instant, he contemplated surrender. If would mean Topaz’s safety after all, but then he saw a glimmer of light above him. As he and several of the gems fighting behind him did the same, Aquamarine was not pleased with the distraction.

“What are you clods all staring at?! If you don’t surrender this instant, I’ll have Topaz blasted to nothingness!” It was only then that she saw the cause of the diversion: a single escape pod hurtling towards the cliff above the temple at a ludicrous speed. It just barely missed the lighthouse and landed with an enormous quake that briefly brought silence to the raging conflict.

The collective question of “What the heck was that?!” seemed to occupy everyone. No one made a move, not even Aquamarine. They could not hear if anything was in the pod, but they could almost make out two figures now looking over the cliff onto the assembled gems below.

The unknown pair soon vanished from sight and both sides began to resume the fight. Before much could occur, however, a slight rumble from the massive rock face caught them by surprise. That sense of surprise grew to full-blown stupefaction when a burly green gem burst through the cliff as if it was paper several stories up and land without even flinching. On her back was a slightly slimmer scarlet gem who seemed shaken by the ride, but had a large grin showing she was having more fun than she has had in years. Steven, his attention finally leaving Aquamarine, looked utterly flabbergasted.

“Adamite?! Cinnabar?! What are you two doing here?” he shouted. Many of the others were curious as well, but the two in question seemed unusually at ease.

“We were abducted from your base by this unbearable nuisance and held captive aboard a ship in orbit. We escaped thanks to an ally of yours with superior firepower and have decided to return here.”

“Hi Steven!” waved Cinnabar, “We got to steal an escape pod and then rode down a cliff! And now we can help you!”

“Help us?” asked Lapis, “I thought you wanted to assist the greatness of Homeworld or some junk like that.”

“It appears your assessment of Homeworld was correct,” responded Adamite with a twinge of regret in her voice, “They have become unscrupulous and consumed by hubris and illogical hatred. They sentenced the two of us for ‘harvesting’ for simply being outdated. I apologize for forgoing your advice, Lapis, and we have made a decision to permanently defect from Homeworld.”

“Oh, so now you two are traitors, huh?!” shouted a very indignant Aquamarine, “Well fine then, we were about to drag the rest of Rose’s rebellion back for shattering. By all means, go off to your certain demise with the rest of them!”

With that cue two jaspers began charging towards them with destabilizers in hand, bearing down on them with sinister grins on their faces. That expression changed once they were launched fifty feet into the air by pillars of stone and soon were shot back down by fireballs as large as they were. The Crystal Gems, while a tad wary of the two thanks to their past actions, were grateful for the assistance and found their second wind.

Pearl began nimbly dancing around her larger opponents and knocking the wind out of them with precise spear strikes. Peridot got her hands on one of the destabilizers and poofed several gems who lost sight of her thanks to her short stature. Garnet joined Cinnabar in burning many of the invaders until they receded into their cores. Amethyst and Bismuth teamed up and overwhelmed many gems with an unpredictable mix of melee styles. That left Lapis and Adamite swarming the battlefield with their respective elements. Many gems were suddenly cocooned in rock up to their necks or swept out to sea and then flopped back onto the sand by a malevolent wave. Despite the former having no memory of the two being partners, Lapis finally began to believe that they once knew each other thanks to the remarkable synergy they possessed.

While the battle raged on behind him, Steven returned his attention to Aquamarine who was still holding Topaz aloft under the focus of several gem fighters. The young hybrid feared making a single move for fear that Aquamarine would make the fatal command. Even still, his anger bubbled beneath the surface and he kept his gauntlets out and ready to pummel the tiny tyrant into submission.

“This has gone on too long. Put Topaz down before the rest of your gems fall and then the rest of the Crystal Gems will be after you.” All the compassion and tenderness he usually spoke with was gone. Aquamarine merely laughed off his suggestion.

“Really? You think you’re still in control of this situation?! All the years on this planet must have made you even more delusional than you already were, Rose Quartz! Even if you defeated my fleet, we’d just send even more! We have billions of troops besides me that would all gladly hand you to the Diamonds. We have an empire spanning galaxies that has grown unimpeded for eons. All you have is a microscopic group of members and a single vessel to your name. You have no chance of surviving the onslaught that will ensue is you keep putting up this defiance. Now, I will give you one final chance to surrender yourself and your fellow criminals to the mercy of the Diamond Authority or else you will all perish here and now.”

Steven could only stare back at the gem. The smirk on her face had begun to irritate him more than anything else in his life. It even made Kevin seem tolerable by comparison. As he processed her speech, however, he actually found it humorous and began to chuckle.

“You know, you really need to stop jumping to conclusions. We may be small, but we’ve stood on our own for a long time. We’re not looking to overthrow the entire gem empire. All we want is to be left alone and if you all can’t accept that, then we will fight back. It may not be our first choice of solving problems, but we’ll do what we have to if it means protecting this planet and each other. Now you can either leave with all your gems in tow, or this fight goes on and we win. Your choice.”

The tiny commander gave the most overblown grimace Steven had ever seen upon hearing his retort. Any semblance of mercy or restraint from her was gone as she looked up to the imprisoned Topaz and felt all sense of reason vanish. All she wanted now was seeing Rose Quartz suffer. And she knew just how to start.

“Fighters! Ready all cannons on Topaz and open fire!”

The weapons began to glow with an eerie green light as the point of each of the eight ships turned their attention towards the stocky yellow fusion. Trapped with no way out and certain death, she was only one step away from blacking out under the stress. Before the firing line could blast her to kingdom come, however, a yellow spaceship came roaring down from the heavens and began obliterating each of the ships before they could even turn around to face their new opponent. Within seconds all eight of them were in shambles with the few pilots fortunate enough to survive the surprise attack running for their lives. Aquamarine was also caught up in the commotion as the shockwaves from the explosions knocked her off her feet and the wand out of her grasp. This finally freed Topaz from her confinement as she plummeted towards the ground. She could barely process what was happening, but recognized that her life was saved. She began to run towards the cliff side away from the commotion of the ongoing battle. Steven, however, did not move an inch and simply smiled as the mysterious spaceship flew overhead before flying out of sight.

“Also, you should learn to look behind you,” quipped Steven as Aquamarine was now left with her face in the sand.

The petite chief looked up with unbridled hatred and realized, as much as she loathed to admit it, she had thoroughly lost every advantage. She could already see Topaz running for her life and as she looked at was her fleet, all of them were totaled. Even her own ship had not been spared and was now a flaming wreck that could not even get off the ground much less return to Homeworld. She could see that the remaining troops they had were already dwindling and some were already trapped in bubbles. She could only guess how many of her troops were obliterated in the ambush.

“How…” was the only word that escaped her lips as her eyes tried to burn through Steven, “How did you get a ship that advanced?”

“I have no idea who that was, but you made it sound like someone gave you trouble in space. We don’t know who’s flying that, but it still helped us in the end. Even if this time was luck, though, we will keep the Earth safe. Now you can’t leave the planet, but we will let the rest of your friends go.”

Aquamarine literally trembled in malice as she stood up and glared at her adversary. Steven did not flinch as he merely stared back at her. Eventually their contest ended when the former looked down and seemed to start sobbing. Everyone present, even the other Homeworld gems, looked shocked as their smart-mouther leader seemed to be crying in defeat.

“Y-You’re right… We’ve lost this,” she stammered as she tried to hold her composure, “I-I suppose we’ll have to wait until Homeworld sends a rescue convoy for me. W-W-We’ll just go our own way and stay out of trouble.” She then silently reached down for her wand and looked at it for several seconds with the same teary expression. Steven almost felt sorry for her, seeing her this dejected, only for his sympathy to vanish as she pointed her wand at him and fired the gravity beam at him. He barely summoned a bubble around himself in a panic, but still found himself trapped in a blue dome around his pink one.

“STEVEN!” shouted all of the Crystal Gems, horrified that the puny tyrant had him in her grasp. Pearl immediately ran forward to help him, but found two jaspers blocking her path. Before she could retaliate, one of them landed the destabilizer hit and forced her into her spherical white stone.

“Pearl, no!” shouted Steven in horror. Aquamarine let out a wicked laugh at his plight.

“Aw, what’s the matter, Rose? You don’t want your disfigured friends in trouble? Too bad! Zap all of them!” With that command, the remaining amethysts and jaspers all sprung on the now thoroughly-shaken Crystal Gems. Playing off the panic that Pearl’s sudden poofing, Bismuth was caught guard by a gem behind her. Amethyst tried booking it back towards the temple, but was tackled by multiple jaspers and zapped for her troubles. Peridot tried fending off as many as she could with her own pilfered destabilizer, but an enemy amethyst ripped it out of her hand and shocked her into her stone. Lapis, Adamite and Cinnabar immediately tried to turn the battle to their favor, but found themselves overwhelmed as almost a dozen gems dog-piled on top of them. When the cluster of gems separated, all three were poofed as well. Garnet was the last to fall as she tried fending off about twenty gems by herself. Even with her future vision, however, she was bound to miss something. All of them rushed her at once and bludgeoned her into submission before electrocuting her down to her two base stones.

“STOP! PLEASE DON’T HURT THEM!” wailed Steven as he watched all of the gems he loved being defeated. Again his misfortune seemed to be wonderful entertainment to Aquamarine as she had the now helpless gems lined up right outside of his bubble. One of the jaspers pulled out her flat-bladed sword and menacingly pointed at the stones in front of him. It took only a second to realize the intent and it made him sweat more than he ever had in his life.

“AQUAMARINE, STOP IT! LET THEM GO! IT’S ME YOU WANT!” He looked over to the smirking gem holding him captive and quickly saw his pleas falling on deaf ears. She ogled the gemstones as casually as someone window shopping at a boutique with the most pleasant expression on her face.

“Hm, which one should get shattered first? That abominable fusion seems tempting, but then there’s that defective runt. Or what about that foolish pearl? Or those three outdated gems that should all be extinct? I simply can’t decide Rose! How about you pick which one should get obliterated! It can be the last free choice you make before Homeworld picks you up to be brought into court.”

Steven could barely hear what she was saying, but what he picked up made him go to pieces. He tried to think as he choked and sobbed, grabbing his hair in stress. He was completely unaware of Aquamarine’s troops making suggestions on who should die first. As he fell onto his knees in his frenzy, he felt his entire world collapse. In his depression, the bubble around him fell. He waited for the awful moment to come when Aquamarine would order for the first execution…

But it never came. Everyone involved, even the short commander herself, were busy staring at him because he was free. The gravity wand was not restraining him anymore. It took Steven finally looking up to notice their baffled expression for this new information to sink in. Once it clicked, however, his sorrow disappeared and his rage from earlier returned with a vengeance.

In the blink of an eye he summoned his spear and stabbed the jasper still looming over the poofed Crystal Gems through the neck. She was poofed instantly and bubbled by Steven only a second later. He charged forward with unheard of speed and began wailing on every gem he could find. Some tried to retaliate with weapons, but they were all parried by his shield in one hand whatever weapon he wielded in the other. He seamlessly flowed between whip, gauntlet and spear, cycling between them with barely a thought. He remained completely silent as he moved from one hapless gem to the next, cutting them down or beating them into surrender. Even when one particularly sensible jasper put down her weapon and tried to offer herself to him, Steven did not relent. He simply speared her through the torso and bubbled her like all the rest. Before long there were only four gems left, two of each kind, and tried to rush him in a desperate final move. Steven simply summoned another bubble to knock them all away once they got within hitting range. Once they were a scattered Steven went to work putting them down one by one. One amethyst was literally choked into her gem by his whip. The other was held by her hair and punched repeatedly in the face until she poofed. The first of the jaspers was held down by Steven’s foot on her neck and stabbed in the face with his spear. Her fellow orange bruiser, the apparent last gem standing in her unit, left to be wailed on by Steven wearing both of his gauntlets. He sent blow after merciless blow into every point of her form until he finally knocked her into her gem with a savage punch to the face.

Aquamarine, having just witnessed the massacre in front of her, learned two very disturbing things. One of them was a crucial flaw of the seemingly-foolproof gravity wand. The wand created essentially created a hold on an object by completely encircling its surface area and then trapping it in a field of no gravity that could be moved and manipulated by the wielder of the wand. Steven’s bubble, in turn, showed that flaw by completely covering him and thus becoming the actual target of the wand’s artificial gravity. And once the bubble was dispersed, the wand’s hold went with it. The other thing she learned, while less complex, was equally chilling.

Aquamarine learned what fear felt like.

Her hands were shaking, her eyes were widened as much as they could, and she even began to perspire as Steven bubbled the last gem and silently turned towards her. She saw how his face was a mask of barely-contained fury that was now glaring at her. In her desperation, another new feeling she discovered that day, she tried trapping Steven in another gravity trap. The fuming hybrid merely summoned another bubble and dispersed it a second after it was caught instead of him. He began slowly walking towards her, each step heightening her growing hysteria.

In her panic, she completely forgot about the wand’s design flaw and tried trapping him over and over again. Each time Steven summoned a bubble to get caught in the artificial gravity in place of him, and dispersed them without ever breaking his pace. He did it purely on instinct, his desire to finally end this madness pushing forward. At long last he was only a few paces away from the truly terrified Aquamarine, looking up at him and realizing for the first time how tiny she physically was. She futilely stuck her arm out to try trapping him again, but Steven simply grasped her arm.

“Drop it. _Now._ ” His words held no argument. She, perhaps for the first time since her first moments of creation, had no comeback and complied. With the weapon laying harmlessly in the sand, Steven proceeded to grip her arm tighter. She squeaked in pain as she swore her arm was trapped under a docked spaceship and quaked even harder. Her pain grew even worse as Steven closed his other hand around her throat and began throttling. Even though he was silent once again, she could feel every ounce of vitriol as her head swam and her breath was constricted. As she glanced for something, anything that could help her, she caught sight of a motionless yellow figure staring at her.

“To…paz…” she choked in desperation. Much to her relief, caught Steven’s attention as he turned to find Topaz gawking at the pair. Unbeknownst to either of them, the fusion had witnessed everything after her release from her malevolent superior. The Crystal Gem’s attempted execution, Steven defeating the entire force by himself and now her boss being strangled. Her presence also brought Steven back to his senses as he suddenly felt very drained physically and emotionally. In his daze, he unintentionally dropped Aquamarine right in front of her gravity wand. She then wasted no time firing at Steven and, with his attention elsewhere, successfully captured him in a bubble of suspended gravity.

Combining the sheer panic she felt only moments ago with the satisfaction of accomplishing her goal at long last, the tiny tyrant started laughing hysterically for several minutes as Topaz looked on in horror and Steven could only frantically try willing another bubble to protect him. Alas now that he was caught there was no escape and Aquamarine finally faced her yellow subordinate with that same sneer she used to boss her around.

“Well, it looks like this insidious mission is finally over, Rose! Even after all that, you lose and your team is doomed! Topaz, go collect the fallen rebels!” Still shocked from Steven’s time as a one-man battalion, the yellow fusion just stood in place until Aquamarine shouted at her.

“Hey, Topaz, you insufferable waste of space! Get whatever’s left of your heads unfused and do your job! Your already looking at getting put on probation for your shoddy performance today, do I need to have you two separated to get the point across?!”

With that threat, though, Topaz indeed got moving. She slowly plodded over to the nine lifeless stones that contained the essence of the Crystal Gems. One by one she plucked them from the sand and then brought all of them in front of Steven, once again thoroughly horrified by the sight of his family on the chopping block.

“Now Topaz, is you want to keep your job and yourself intact, I suggest you start by shattering these gems one by one.”

The fusion in question summoned her pugil stick and closed her eyes. Steven and Aquamarine waited for her to make the first move, but nothing came as she stood there seemingly frozen in with her weapon idly in her fingers. Aquamarine, having already lost all her patience, did not take this well.

“Is this some kind of joke, Topaz?! Have you been damaged, or should I say more damaged than you already were, you worthless clod?! Stop standing there and start swinging!”

That got Topaz to open her eyes, showing an unusual amount of anger given her stoic nature. She then took several steps back, apparently getting a running start to build momentum. She charged with impressive speed considering her bulk…

And sped right past the dormant Crystal Gems. Before Aquamarine could give her subordinate another tongue-lashing, though, she was hit full-tilt in the face by Topaz. In her stumbling she dropped the wand once again and let Steven go.

“What the-?!” was all the petite flyer could manage before Topaz barreled down on her with a look of pure, unrestrained hatred on her face. Without any hesitation she raised her stick and began bashing her boss over and over again. With each blow she screamed all the thoughts she had been keeping inside for ages.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP, YOU AWFUL LITTLE MIDGET! I HATE YOU! I DESPISE YOU! I HATE EVERYTHING YOU’VE MADE ME DO! I HATE HOW SMUG YOU ARE! I CAN’T STAND HOW YOU TREAT MY LOVE AS A TOOL TO MAKE ME YOUR SLAVE! WE BOTH HATE YOU! WE HATE HOMEWORLD! AND ROSE HAS TREATED US BETTER THAN YOU EVER HAVE! WE QUIT! WE’RE DONE! WE’RE STAYING HERE! AND YOU CAN GO BACK TO HOMEWORLD AS THE FAILURE YOU ARE, YOU PIECE OF SCHIST!”

By the time she was done her rant, Topaz was breathing harder than she ever had in her life. Steven was speechless and, while proud of her taking her freedom after so much suffering, was still unnerved by the sheer brutality of it. He was still in far better shape than Aquamarine, though, as she was barely conscious and was amazed at how her gemstone was not cracked thanks to repeated blows to the face. Her entire form was throbbing in agony and she barely managed to look up at her now-former minion.

“So, it’s finally come to this,” she remarked, “You’re going to throw away everything you had for some lousy rebellion just because one of them was nice to you? How pathetic. How do you know the others will accept you?”

“They will,” assured Steven, “I know they’ll treat her the same as everyone else. That’s what the Crystal Gems are all about - accepting any gem who wants something different with her life. Earth can be a peaceful place where they don’t have to live by your rules.”

“Heh, you’re one to talk about peace, Rose,” snarked Aquamarine as she got back on her feet, “You started the civil war in our history. Thousands of shattered gems on both sides and you’re going to lecture me about peace?! You’re a hypocrite and a traitor to boot.”

“She’s still better than you,” growled Topaz as she hoisted the smaller gem by her torso and clutched her in her much larger hands.

“Topaz, I won’t ever forgive you for this,” swore the tinier gem, “When Homeworld hears about this, both of you are as good as shattered. Do you understand that?”

“I do,” she briefly looked down at her feet, as if she was about to relent her hold on her. Aquamarine smirked internally at talking her way out of another scrape, only to find Topaz’s hand squeezing her harder than ever.

“Then I guess Homeworld’s not hearing from you ever again.”

As she spoke through clenched teeth, she strangled Aquamarine’s entire body with both hands. Only her head was free and even that felt like it was being pushed together by two boulders. Her vision began to swim as every fiber of her cried in pain. She begged Topaz to stop using every plead and command she could think of, but the fusion was finally done with her.

Steven was suitably shocked by the display, but could not look away. All the adrenaline from the battle had left him leaving him weary and grateful for this whole ordeal to finally be over. Aquamarine, however, said something that caught his ear.

“Rose…I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry…I promise…If you help me, I’ll…Leave and never bother you…” she wheezed as Topaz continued her agonizing compressing.

Steven looked at her, more desperate and afraid than she has been in her entire life. Topaz still kept her eyes on her, glaring into her and wishing she would pop already. He knew he wanted to believe her, he wanted to think there was some good in her. As he recalled everything she has done since her arrival, though, a freezing chill overcame him. He unconsciously began to cry.

“No, you’re not. You’re lying.”

“Wha-? But…I said-”

“If you meant that, you would have flown away when I dropped you. You kept on trying to attack me and my friends. I’m sorry, Aquamarine. I can’t help you. I want to, but you won’t let me. You have to go.”

Seeing her last hope was gone, Aquamarine gave one last terrified shriek as Topaz finally forced her into her gem. She looked down at the tiny teardrop, so unassuming on its own. Topaz then pulled out her pugil stick and looked down at the stone, but not before looking at the still sobbing Steven. He spent what felt like eternity staring at the fallen gem, wrestling with himself that there was some way, any way, to redeem her, but nothing came. He finally looked up at Topaz and nodded his head. She silently brought down the point of her weapon and shattered Aquamarine. The Battle for the Temple was finally over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, let us mourn the loss of such an iconic character in song. "Ding-Dong, the witch is dead..."  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	26. White Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the fighting is all over...and the story is still going! What exciting plot twist will await us?

When the rest of the Crystal Gems reformed, they awoke to the last sight they could have imagined; Steven and Topaz politely talking on the beach with seemingly no sign of the massive battle that had just taken place save for a cage full of frozen Homeworld troops still stuck by the cliff and numerous gem destabilizers laying all around them.

“Hey guys!” he greeted the resurrected gems as they bafflingly stared at Topaz who was doing her best to look embarrassed and nonthreatening despite her hulking stature.

“Steven, what happened? Where’s Aquamarine?” inquired Pearl as she placed her hands on his shoulders. The boy merely glanced over to the spot where the shards of the former gem commander rested on the sand. The others, even the likes of Garnet and Adamite, looked stunned.

“Well…I guess that ends that,” shrugged Lapis, having no idea what to say. They could already tell Topaz was the one responsible, but the whole ordeal still left them drained. Peridot simply went inside and shut off the force field and soon all of the Crystal Gems save for Topaz, who continued to twiddle her thumbs on the beach, as well as Adamite and Cinnabar filed into the beach house.

What felt like hours to Steven passed as he recollected everything that happened after Aquamarine’s surprise attack left all of them poofed. He could hardly make out any fine details, but he remembered beating every single gem by himself. Somehow he took down a small platoon of around twenty soldiers singlehandedly. Amethyst, naturally, was the first to give her thoughts.

“That. Was. FREAKING AWESOME!” She proceeded to tackle-hug him in her exuberance. The others soon followed.

“I knew you packed a punch, but not that much!” boasted Bismuth as she ruffled his hair.

“You showed those ruddy muddy clods whose boss!” cheered Peridot.

Pearl could only look on, clearly trying to hold back tears though if they listened closely they could hear her saying how proud his mother would be. Lapis also hugged him, jokingly adding how he saved her again. The only one not getting into the celebration, however, was Steven himself as he felt oddly uncomfortable. Garnet, observant as usual, walked up to him last and rested her hands on his shoulder.

“Steven, I want you to know this is not something you should be ashamed of. You tried talking, but you knew that wasn’t working. You did what you had to, and I am so proud of you for it. You really aren’t that silly little boy who would beg to get brought along to missions anymore. You’re a real Crystal Gem who fought to save his home and his family. Never forget that today you were a hero. Sometimes the hero has to get violent, but that doesn’t change that you did it for a great cause.”

Steven was left literally starry-eyed by her words and finally put on a smile as he felt relief, warmth and a twinge of satisfaction out of his job well-done. Finding his old jubilance again, he walked outside to find the other three gems sitting outside on the beach. Cinnabar was entertaining herself by passing a fireball between her fingers, Adamite was simply staring at the ocean and Topaz seemed lost on what to do her with freedom as she was just awkwardly poking the sand.

“Hey!” he greeted from the porch, “Aren’t you going to come in?” Adamite looked back, a touch surprised at his openness.

“Are you not worried about us in your dwelling after our altercation? We caused severe damage to your base.”

“But it’s all fixed now!” he rebutted, “Besides, you two really helped us back there. As far as I’m concerned, that’s enough to make you Crystal Gems too!”

Cinnabar happily stood up and ran straight up the stars, leaving a literal trail of smoke in her wake. Topaz, although relieved, still seemed apprehensive as she followed behind the scarlet arsonist. Adamite stayed right where she was and simply stared at him, wondering how he could trust her so plainly. Then she merely closed her eyes and gave a rare smile.

“It seems you really are full of surprises.” She then made her way indoors where she already found her comrade of so many years chatting with Lapis by the fire pit. Eventually the new Crystal Gems, now sitting at nine members strong, all gathered together to celebrate their victory over Homeworld. Steven brought out juice boxes with his usual playfulness even though no one in their party outside of him needed liquids. Nevertheless Cinnabar tried drinking for herself and seemed to enjoy which greatly pleased Amethyst.

“Great, finally someone I can chow down with,” remarked the purple scrapper, “I can stop trying to convince Pearl after all this time.”

“Excuse me if I find the act of putting foreign substances in my body uncomfortable,” refuted the gem in question, “I would rather pass the time with something more engaging like laundry or crossword puzzles.”

“Boy, and I thought Peri and I could get dull,” joked Lapis, much to the amusement of Amethyst and Bismuth. The slender gem merely pouted, but their merriment was broken up by Adamite.

“While it is fascinating to observe your… unique relationships, there is still a serious quandary weighing on my mind; who was aboard that fighter that attacked the enemy fleet in orbit?”

“No clue,” responded Bismuth, “But I sure am glad for their help. We’d probably be rubble if it weren’t for them.”

“I suppose you make a logical point. Since they were an asset in your skirmish, perhaps their identity is irrelevant.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” suggested Garnet, causing many eyebrows to be raised in response.

“What, do you have some grand prediction of who they are? Are they going to save us from certain shattering again?” jested Peridot with her usual swagger, only to be rendered speechless as the very ship in question landed on the beach right in front of their house. Topaz looked absolutely stunned while the rest of the group looked knowingly outside.

“Nope. They’ll show up soon,” was all Garnet said before she, along with most of the other gems followed her outside to greet their allies. Peridot was left hanging her head in shame besides a fully stupefied Topaz who was babbling incoherently in confusion.

“Darn future vision,” the green gem mumbled as she trudged outside. Topaz followed suit, not wanting to be alone in the house. Soon the entirety of the new Crystal Gems crowded out on their patio to find a large yellow craft of obvious gem design deploying its landing gear. Before long a panel slip up revealing an odd gem that seemed to be conjoined twins. A single pair of red legs diverged into two bodies sporting a single arm and identical faces which both lit up when they caught sight of Steven.

“Steven, it’s you!” spoke up the left head.

“We’ve finally made it!” finished the right head. Steven was already running down the stairs to hug them with a humongous grin on his face.

“Rutile! You’re okay!” he cheered as he reached them and wrapped his arms around their waist. The twins were soon joined by another colorful figure; a pink and purple figure with gems on her collar and navel. She was also demonstrating clear anxiety as both of her pairs of arms were clamped together.

“Oh my, that was quite a commotion,” she fretted to no one in particular, “I hope we finally put some distance between us and-”

Before she could ramble further, Steven called her name and embraced her as well. Rhodonite instantly brightened up seeing Steven and wrapped her lower arms around him.

“What a nice place…” drawled on the next figure from the ship. A massive caterpillar like gem which, unbeknownst to the majority of the Crystal Gems, had six components. Steven merely ran up to her with the same joyful expression and hugged her face.

“Fluorite! I can’t believe you’re here! You made it!” “Well, that last shake up got a bit dicey. Those enemy fighters really knew their stuff,” replied the actual captain of the ship. Much to the absolute astonishment of Steven and his friends it was none other than Lars. Now decked out in a red and black ensemble and practically glowing with confidence, he hardly resembled the awkward standoffish teenager who was abducted months ago. The fact that his skin and hair were now a fluorescent pink were actually some of the least drastic changes.

“Steven, how do you know all these gems? How’d your friend get a hold of this ship?! HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?!” shouted Pearl as her brain practically short-circuited in light of so much new information. Lars, attempting to assuage the situation, moved forward to explain only to forget the gap between the opening of the ship and the ground. He fell flat on his face on the sand, prompting the last member of the Off-Colors to emerge.

“Watch your step, Captain Lars!” warned Padparadscha, the petite sapphire with the same dutiful tone as always.

“Thanks Pap…” muffled Lars begrudgingly before Steven helped him up. The tension seemed to drop at his comical fall. The five entered the temple along with the rest of the gems, all of them glad to have their arduous journey to Earth finally behind them.

\---

You almost had to feel sorry for the Violet Agate Facet-6R4C Cut-3XA. She had the unenviable task of reporting her absolute disaster of a mission to Yellow Diamond herself. Standing in front of the colossal matriarch who was clearly getting more and more upset with every dour detail she spoke, Violet could practically feel her chances of leaving with her life, let alone her rank, dwindle away with each word. After too many agonizing moments to count, the briefing was over and Yellow let out a long sigh.

“So let me get this straight. Your commanding officer, a personal member of Blue Diamond’s court, was shattered by Rose Quartz herself. You not only failed to bring arrest her, but you also lost almost one hundred soldiers to the enemy force despite having superior numbers and firepower. Almost every ship in your brigade was destroyed by a stolen gem craft, which has been pursued for some time now. And on top of that, at least one of your officers turned traitor and is now assisting the rebellion. Is that correct?”

“Y-y-yes my Diamond,” stuttered the agate, “W-we caught all of this on s-surveillance once we escaped the enemy craft, but we had practically n-n-no survivors of the a-attack. I-I assumed you would rather p-preserve any remaining resources and information rather than make a b-b-blind attack.”

The yellow matriarch then rose from her throne. Her posture was as perfect as always, but now the air radiated with pure, hardly contained fury. Violet could have sworn she saw sparks of energy bounce off her skin. She dare not shut her eyes out of fear of agitating her Diamond further, but she wished she did not have to see her own death.

“That will be all, agate.” Violet could hardly believe it, but she silently thanked every star she could think of and left after a typical salute. As she practically ran out of Yellow’s personal chamber, Yellow Pearl could still feel the loathing rippling out of Yellow. And she had no choice but to stay in the same room as her in preparation from her next order. Before she could even ask what to do next, her communicator went off. She checked the caller and immediately began shaking in horror.

“M-m-m-m-My Diamond, y-y-y-you have someone who wants to speak to you.”

“Refuse it, Pearl. I’m in no mood to talk,” rebutted Yellow as she returned to her throne and began trying to calm herself down. She did not get very far before her Pearl, now quivering like never before, walked up to her.

“I-I-I hate to i-i-impose, My Diamond, but I think you r-r-r-really need to-”

“What part of refuse don’t you understand?!” shouted Yellow, her usual placid expression gone, “I don’t care what some uppity zircon has to complain about! Unless it’s a serious emergency, I don’t want to hear it! Who’s so important that they need my immediate attention?!”

“White Diamond…” squeaked out her pearl in the meekest voice she could muster. Her Diamond, for a rare moment, was utterly lost for words. “S-Should I still refuse the call now?”

“REFUSE HER AND YOU’LL BE SHATTERED!” erupted Yellow sending a bolt of energy to her feet in panic. Yellow Pearl leapt into the air to avoid the bolt, giving her master some valuable time to recompose herself.

“I’m sorry, Pearl. Go and handle any minor complaints that come in while I converse with White.” While she would normally be thrilled to essentially be given the reins by her boss, and stupefied to actually get an apology from her, Yellow Pearl was far too shaken to feel any gratitude and merely left with a typical salute after giving up the prism-shaped communicator and accepting the call. That left the fearless matriarch by herself gingerly holding the tiny prism as if her life depended on it. In seconds a large screen appeared before her showing the face of the supreme matriarch of Homeworld.

“Hello, Yellow. So glad you could join us,” greeted White with an unusually jovial tone. Yellow knew not to put her guard down, however, as she could still tell something was amiss. A second smaller screen soon appeared showing Blue Diamond. She was taking the meeting even worse than the more obstinate Yellow as she was already close to panicking. White, as usual, paid their discomfort no mind.

“I have recently learned that you two sent a small fleet to the planet of the fallen rebellion. According to your report, you were aiming to capture Rose Quartz, the gem responsible for shattering Pink Diamond, but even with your superior firepower and numbers you lost spectacularly. Is that correct?”

Blue was already beginning to shake as she struggled to hold back her tears. Yellow, already fearing the inevitable punishment, looked her superior in the eyes and held back the scream that was building in her throat long enough to answer.

“Yes White, that is correct. I have just been briefed of the outcome by one of the survivors of the expedition.”

“Interesting…” commented White with that same smile, before her tone became harsher, “And yet there are a few details that I need to understand. Blue, was the gem in charge of this mission a high-ranking member of your court?”

“Y-y-yes White,” responded the morose matriarch, “Aquamarine Facet-5W1E Cut-4XF. She was the responsible for apprehending Rose Quartz on an earlier mission, so she seemed to be the ideal candidate.”

“Really? Because I understand she outright abandoned the battle to interrogate two innocuous gems. How does such a prominent gem make such an illogical and foolish mistake? I would expect such a paltry mistake from a common agate, but it was an aquamarine! And this is a major blunder for you too Blue. It is inexcusable to have such an incompetent gem in your court. Do you need some mentoring on how to properly select gems for your court, Blue?”

“N-n-n-no thank you, White. That is unnecessary and it would d-distract you from your duties,” choked Blue in scarcely-contained horror. Even Yellow had to repress a shudder at the thought of being personally reeducated by White Diamond. The pale sovereign did not acknowledge their fear, but was assured that she gotten her point across. She then dropped her smile and all her usual cheery demeanor.

“From what I have seen, you two have rushed in headlong to this endeavor with no forethought. You have wasted our resources on a pointless vendetta that was resolved eons ago. If the rebellion somehow survived our final solution, then they should be easily dispatched of. And yet here you two are, Diamonds, the unstoppable force behind a universal campaign, wallowing in failure. I let the trial debacle slide since that was a private affair, but now you’re abrupt attack has left a small hole in our forces. One that will most certainly be noticed. It is a hole that reminds us not only does the rebellion still exist, it thrives. How long will it be before they start spreading their influence to colonized planets and leading a full-scale revolution?” “But White, it wasn’t even ten gems! We should have demolished them in an instant!”

“DID I ASK FOR YOUR INPUT, YELLOW?!” shrieked the ivory queen, her flawless composure cracking for an instant. Demure as she might be to most, she was still the head of a multi-galaxy spanning empire with millennia of experience wiping out any and all obstacles that prevented her further conquest.

“Besides, there’s a flaw in your argument: If Rose Quartz and her group are so insignificant, how did they overpower a small fleet and almost a hundred troops?” Yellow had to admit, with enormous shame, her superior had a point. Said superior thankfully readopted her graceful poise and spoke with a far gentler, but still commanding tone.

“The only positive consequence of this disaster is that it has enlightened me to an urgent matter: You two have become woefully incompetent. You have let emotions completely rule your judgment, and that is why you sent such a significant force without doing any form of proper investigation to gather information on Rose or how she has persisted for so long. You simply received a vague tip from an unknown entity and placed all your efforts into what, for all you know, could have been misinformation made to sabotage you. It is clear that now we have to retaliate. I cannot let such a disgrace to our empire go unpunished, but this time I will be personally overseeing the efforts.”

Hearing that White would be directly involved with external affairs for the first time in even they did not know how long, the other two were deeply concerned. They dared not raise her anger again, but their expressions spoke for them.

“I see you are still letting your sentiments for Pink Diamond rule your judgments. This is exactly why I must get involved. Do either of you have any objections?”

“I-I-I want to avenge her…” whispered Blue, mustering all her courage as she did so, “I want t-to be the one who brings that g-gem in-”

“Really? After all this time you still weep and mourn her? You are supposed to be an incorruptible leader. Yet here you are sobbing like a frightened peon. Perhaps I should also oversee all your colonies if you are so unbalanced.”

“No!” shouted Yellow, coming to her comrade’s aid before she could hang herself with her words, “Blue has always been the sentimental one. You know this, White. She is more than capable of managing her colonies, but she has never fully gotten over Pink’s shattering. She just needs more time.”

Blue actually looked flustered from the comfort, but White was unamused.

“How considerate of you, Yellow. You claim to follow my example, yet here you are coddling her weakness and ensuring she will never move past this moping. I shall prepare to deal with the rebellion myself, but before I go I want you both to contemplate this question. If Pink Diamond was as wonderful as you claim, someone who needs so much time to be missed, how did a single gem shatter her? Frankly, logic would dictate she would hardly be missed if she really is that pathetic. I’ll let you both consider this and I expect an answer when I speak to you again. That will be all.”

White Diamond then shut off her communicator leaving Yellow and Blue to ponder the question she left them with. Or at least Blue would be if she were not silently boiling in misery and anger. Yellow, in a rare speechless moment, simply watched her fellow Diamond sob as she herself felt the need to cry without Blue’s influence for the first time in ages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You asked for them, and now their finally here! The Off-Colors have arrived. Also White Diamond. Win some, lose some, am I right? Tune in for more new characters maybe, probably, eventually.  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	27. Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for things to wind down for a bit...This chapter is more comedic antics instead of serious drama.

The next few days saw the temple get remarkably crowded as the Crystal Gems almost doubled in number after the Battle for the Temple. Even with the case of Fluorite having to stay outside due her sheer size that left over a dozen gems suddenly needing to work under one roof. Although “work” might be an exaggeration considering that after all the stress of their latest encounter with Homeworld some rest and relaxation was definitely in order.

While training and the like never vanished for Steven, the mood was infinitely more laid-back than the immediate past. He was clearly giddy about having so many new faces in the house and was even happier once he told Greg and Connie of his achievements. Aside from getting more somber when the unfortunate subject of Aquamarine came up, he was proud of their victory and the lives they helped improve.

The hardest of the bunch to adapt was definitely Topaz as she more or less spent several hours of her first real day on Earth standing around the house in a state of perpetual awkwardness. She had a habit of shifting her eyes and looking over her shoulder, clearly afraid that Homeworld might be after her and completely at a loss with what to do with herself. On Homeworld she was always ferried around from one mission to another, never stopping for a break. Now she had all the time in the world, literally due to the agelessness of gems, but nothing to spend it on. The following day seemed to be going in the same manner until Lapis walked up to her.

“What’s up with you?” was all she asked in her usual aloof tone.

“It’s… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now. I just-”

“I know the feeling. At least you were out and about all that time. I spent several millennia stuck in a mirror, so I get the feeling. I think I've got something that’ll help.”

Lapis merely led her to the bookshelves lining the walls and grabbed the first-season DVD boxset of _Camp Pining Hearts_ before walking upstairs to Steven’s room. The boy was actually up there for a change taking a rest after running his now-routine five laps around Beach City.

“Oh hey guys! What’s up?”

“Could we use your TV? Topaz has nothing to do so I want to show her my show.”

“Of course. Casa de Universe is open to all alien refugees who watch cheesy soap operas. You do that while I go spar with Garnet.” He then headed downstairs leaving Topaz even more confused. How could he be so at peace with everything?

Regardless, Lapis soon had them watching the pilot episode of hers and Peridot’s favorite show. Topaz merely stared blankly at the screen for the entire twenty-two minute runtime until the credits rolled. She then looked at Lapis with the same awkward expression that had been on her face for most of her time on Earth and asked the burning question on her mind.

“What was the point of that?”

“Well, if you ask Peridot, she’d go on and on about them foreshadowing for season nine and how this all ties into her conspiracy theories-”

“No, I meant this whole thing. Why does it exist? What is it supposed to do?”

“Umm…entertain? It’s just a show that people watch and enjoy for fun. You never had anything like that on Homeworld?”

“We have celebrations, but that’s just to celebrate some accomplishment. And weed out any disruptive gem to the upper-crusts, but other than that, not really. I mean there’s singing and dancing, but no one does that just because.”

“Wow. I knew Homeworld sucked, but now they’re a bunch of uptight party-poopers too.”

Such a blunt statement caused Topaz to laugh briefly and was also shocked to hear her openly insult the gem hierarchy. Sure, she may have loathed Homeworld and its rules for quite some time, but she would never admit it! That was a one-way ticket to getting split up and then she really would have nothing to keep her going.

“You don’t have to worry about someone hurting you hear. It took me a long time to realize that, but now I feel safe here. And if Homeworld tries to mess with you, we can help you. Better now?”

Topaz simply nodded as she felt a weight lift from her shoulders, a weight she had gotten so used to carrying she hardly felt it for the longest time. Lapis then left her alone in Steven’s room to continue watching the ever-complicated relationships of flag wars and camp counselor love-triangles.

Hours passed until eventually Steven was wrapping up for the day. By the time Steven came back and readied himself his comfy pajamas and comforter, he found Topaz sobbing hysterically on his bed with her head in his pillow.

“Season one finale?” he asked. Topaz only wailed louder in response, prompting the drowsy boy to pat her on the shoulder and tell her it turns out alright in the end without giving away any spoilers. He managed to cajole her off his mattress as she slunk downstairs already fathoming how season two would go and how relieved it was to finally have something joyful in her life besides her relationship.

The next morning the beach house was still alive with activity. Greg walked to his house only to find Amethyst and Cinnabar roughhousing on the beach. Apparently the pair’s snark remarks to each other in their first encounter has stemmed into something of a friendly rivalry. The two seemed to be in a tussle over who was getting dunked in the ocean with them both making jabs and taunts all the way. The only thing Greg found even weirder was the literal spaceship parked in front of his house and that these were all common occurrences in his life. Some fathers were concerned about their sons joining the football team or getting into dating around this age. He was worried about the dozen or so alien women in his house and his son training to fight intergalactic warlords. He was taken out of his waxing when he heard a loud splash.

“Hah, take that hothead! You wanna give up now? I’ve got years of wrestling experience under my belt?” goaded Amethyst as her warm-colored adversary rose literally steaming.

“I spent years dealing with Adamite, you runt! I’ll show you to talk to me like that!” She then forced the water under Amethyst to heat up through her feet making the shorter scrapper leap into the air yowling as her feet burned.

As Greg moved on as their horseplay continued, he spotted Garnet and Adamite chaperoning them from the porch with equally amused smiles on their faces.

“It is refreshing to finally have another gem with Cinnabar’s tenacity,” remarked the more muscular of the two, “She is not exactly the easiest to entertain.”

“It’s nice for Amethyst too. She finally has a playmate on her level. I remember she was disappointed at how fragile Steven could be when he was younger.”

“Um, hey ladies. Everything good out here?” he asked also addressing Fluorite who had been watching their spectacle since it began.

“Yeah, we had to shepherd them outside when they started. Apparently Cinnabar poked Amethyst awake from her nap and that got her in a bunch,” answered Garnet who was privately chuckling as they two started biting and pulling each other’s hair.

Greg simply shrugged and accepted this as part of his life. Inside he found Steven and Pearl simply washing dishes at the sink, Topaz running upstairs with the next season of Camp Pining Hearts clutched in her arms, and Lapis and the Rutile twins having a conversation around the fire pit. All in all, he actually considered this a rather low-key day for this household. Then he watched Bismuth emerge from Peridot’s room with smoke rolling off her shoulders and a prominent scowl on her face.

“What happened to you?” asked the concerned father.

“I almost poofed myself,” Bismuth grumbled much to the amusement of Steven who could not help but giggle at her choice of words.

“Well, shucks, sorry about that,” Greg consoled before moving in to whisper in her ear, “While I’ve got you here, how’s the project coming?”

“It would be coming along a lot faster if Peridot was here! She went out hours ago and I need her to work on the wiring. I’m not very good with electronics and so I tried to do it myself and-”

“Got shocked for your troubles?” asked Pearl who overheard their conversation. Bismuth could only nod in embarrassment.

“I remember when I first got into engineering. I had more than my fair share of accidents. And that was all before electricity was invented! Or the steam engine. Or iron.”

“Man Pearl, you’ve been busy all these years! What’d you try to do, make some giant death ray in case Homeworld came back?” snarked Bismuth only for Pearl to blush.

“Actually Rose and I did contemplate creating a light-based weapon with the destructive capability to eliminate any Homeworld troops before they could land as a precaution after the original war ended. We…ran into a major design flaw.” “Oh yeah, what was it?” “We learned that mirrors, even thousands upon thousands of them focused on the same point, could not create a beam of light concentrated enough to destroy the craft. The most we could have done was blind the pilot. Hundreds of hours and thousands of panes of glass wasted and it was horribly difficult to set up and put away! I’m just grateful no one else tried that idea or it would be a profound waste of time At least we eventually refined into the laser light cannon.”

“Huh. Well, have you seen Peridot anywhere? I need her help with this.”

“Last I checked she went into that ship the Off-Colors arrived in. Don’t know what happened since then.” Bismuth thanked her for the help and made her way outside after spotting Amethyst putting Cinnabar in a headlock. She then opened the Sun Incinerator and quickly found herself to the the bridge of the ship after hearing Peridot’s voice. What she found there made her stop in her tracks.

“Oh my, aren’t you a gorgeous piece of hardware!” cooed Peridot as she was draped all over the main console touching every button she could get her hands on. She was so enamored that she did not even notice Bismuth standing about thirty feet away.

“So sleek, so modern, so advanced! If there’s one thing I miss about my days on Homeworld, it’s getting handle such magnificent machinery. I can’t believe they managed to come up with this not even a year after I left. I can only imagine how it feels to pilot such powerful thrusters. I can practically feel the rush of flying faster than sound! One day you will be mine to command…”

Before she could go on, Bismuth burst out laughing harder than she had in her entire life. In only seconds she fell on the floor kicking her legs and crying from the exertion. This caused Peridot to snap out of her trance and fall on the floor as she rolled off the console in a heap.

“B-B-B-Bismuth?! What are you doing here? And what’s so funny?!”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t… know you and the spaceship… w-were having a private moment! Do you…want me to come back after yo-you’re done buffing yourself?” was all she could sputter out before another fit of laughter overtook her. Peridot’s cheeks heated up instantly and she marched up to the still-guffawing blacksmith.

“I’ll have you know I wasn’t doing anything inappropriate! I was simply admiring this vessel so I could get a feeling for its controls. This ship is an invaluable asset for us and we need to learn how to pilot it!”

“Uh-huh. Now, do you want me to leave so you can finish in peace or do you prefer someone watching?” Bismuth then entered another laughing frenzy as Peridot’s cheeks heated up once again.

“It’s not funny! And don’t act like you don’t get carried away by your own fascinations! I’ve seen you work at your forge and start ogling your own swords!”

“Hey! Don’t you bring me handiwork into this! I don’t treat them like their alive or that I want to fuse with them!”

“Really?! So if I went to your forge right now and started banging all of the blades against rocks until their dull and chipped you wouldn’t care?”

“O-of course not!” Bismuth bluffed though her eyes clearly betrayed her words, “I could always make another one.”

“Oh, and what about one of the ones from that armory Pearl showed Lapis? You wouldn’t mind if I took one of those?”

“Those are antiques! W-why would want to use one of those? I could just make you one just like it personally!”

“If they are of so little concern to you, why are you dodging the question? After all, they’re outdated, right?”

“Because if you dent up one of my babies, I’ll dent your face! Each one of those was handmade! I spent eons globetrotting to learn the different shapes and techniques to make those!”

“Ha! Looks like I’m not the only one with an obsession!”

“I have a healthy respect for an art form. You were in here staring at that console like you wanted to roll around on it naked!”

“But I don’t wear actual garments.”

“Point still stands. You wouldn’t want to make Lapis jealous, would you?”

“W-what?! What does she have to do with any of this?!”

“Really? The gem you spent months living with almost completely alone and now trusts you enough to fuse with you? And I thought Biggs could be dense when it came to other gem’s feelings.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” shouted Peridot as she leapt onto Bismuth’s shoulders and began tugging at her hair. The two began unintentionally mimicking Amethyst and Cinnabar outside as they engaged in a wrestling match of their own. While Bismuth clearly held the size and power advantage, Peridot proved remarkably agile as she crawled all over the blacksmith biting and slapping anything she could reach. Eventually their grappling ended with Bismuth pining Peridot to the floor with each of the former’s hands completely covering the latter’s arms. They each prepared to trade more insults, but were interrupted when the hatch to the ship opened.

“What on Earth are you two doing?!” exclaimed a rather flustered Pearl who stood alongside Lapis Lazuli and Rhodonite. All three of the gems looked at the roughhousing gems with a mix of confusion, amusement and embarrassment.

“We were merely settling a dispute in a calm, rational manner,” explained Peridot before struggling in vain to escape Bismuth’s grasp.

Pearl stepped in and managed to separate the two before grabbing them both by the hair and pulling them inside with Lapis following along while Rhodonite double-checked nothing was broken. It was also hide her blushing as watching the encounter could not help but remind her about how her components used to meet in secret away from their boss Morganite.

“Now would you both care to explain what your little scuffle was all about?” demanded Pearl as Peridot and Bismuth sat in opposite sides of the fire pit with almost everyone in the temple listening in out of curiosity. Even Amethyst and Cinnabar came in upon the former recognizing that someone was in trouble.

Peridot came clean about her ogling the Sun Incinerator and confessing that she missed a small part of Homeworld. Bismuth then revealed that she went too far with her taunting and insinuated a romance between her partner in construction and Lapis. The latter revelation, much to the surprise of everyone in the room, did not bother her.

“So you thought me and Peridot were a couple now because of Turquoise? Big deal.”

“You’re really not upset, Lapis?” asked Steven.

“I might have been if this happened earlier, but one thing I learned being here is why should I care what people think of me? I’m happy here and Peridot’s still a friend of mine. If they want to make assumptions, that’s their problem.”

“That’s a very mature way of looking at it, Lapis,” commended Pearl, “Now Bismuth, do you have something to say?”

“I’m sorry for that Peri, I guess I still have to work on my temper,” the blacksmith could not help but look at Steven as she felt a wave of regret wash over her. That changed, however, when Adamite stepped forward with the same aloof expression as usual and spoke to her.

“You might have more improvements to make, but you have clearly made some clear efforts to remedy your behavior. As long as you possess the ability to recognize your flaws, there is a far higher chance of you achieving your goals. Do not doubt yourself and you will reach your desired outcome.”

Bismuth was shocked by her sentiment, but appreciated it nonetheless. Topaz, having taken a break from her binge-watching to observe, felt herself tear up again. Whether it was being reminded of how much better her situation was or how much the scene reminded her of a touching moment of _Camp Pining Hearts_ was anyone’s guess.

As Bismuth got up to get back to work in Peridot’s room, she found the green gem had not moved from her spot.

“What’s up with you? I said I was sorry.”

“It’s not your statements that bother me. I am more surprised that no one reacted to my confession.”

“What? That you miss Homeworld tech?”

“Affirmative. I was worried that you all, especially Garnet or Pearl, would doubt my convictions to the cause if I expressed fondness for my former occupation.”

“You shouldn’t,” spoke Garnet who was standing behind her chair.

“AAH! We can’t all see the future, you know! One day you’ll poof a gem being so abrupt.”

“Hm…I don’t see that happening.” Peridot only raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m kidding about that, but not about your feelings. Peridot, we all had things we enjoyed on Homeworld. We won’t label you a traitor for saying something nice about your old home.”

Peridot released a breath she had been keeping in for some time now and looked up at the perma-fusion with relief. She then shut her eyes as she let her emotions out.

“After the whole Cluster incident, I honestly wasn’t sure what my purpose was as a Crystal Gem. All I had was my proficiency with machines and with nothing to build. I felt... powerless. I don’t have the combat capabilities of you, Amethyst and Pearl. I didn’t even have any special abilities like Lapis. When I learned I could move metal with my mind I felt better, but it still wasn’t enough. Sure I was happy with all my meep-morps and the Internet, but I never felt like a part of this team. It wasn’t until I stopped Jasper that I felt I was worth anything to this team. Now…I don’t want to lose that. I want to contribute in every way possible and make sure that the Diamonds never have their way with Earth.”

When she opened her eyes she found literally every other Crystal Gem grinning at her. Steven then embraced her in a crushing hug.

“Aw, look at you getting in touch with her emotions today! So adorable!” the hybrid whimpered as Peridot tried her best to hug him back despite his enhanced strength taking her breath away.

“Come here, you squirt!” exclaimed Bismuth as she joined in by cradling them both in her arms. Peridot was now gasping for air.

“Someone…help…”

“Oh, hush up, you nerd!” added Amethyst as she decided to join in herself as she grabbed onto Bismuth’s side. Pearl and Garnet joined on by hopping onto Bismuth’s shoulder which caused the bulky gem to fall over and form a pile.

“Should have seen that coming,” remarked Garnet.

“This is just like the old days! I love you all so much!” exclaimed Pearl in a moment of pure happiness as she soaked in the familial love of the moment.

“I…can’t…breathe…” wheezed Peridot from the bottom of the pile. Lapis either did not hear her or did not care as she hopped on top of them all. Adamite and Cinnabar then joined in as well.

“Considering we can breathe in the vacuum of space, I find your complaint quite illogical,” responded the former with the barest hint of a smile on her face.

“I just like hugs!” answered the latter in her usual excited tone. The Off-Colors, save for Fluorite who was still outside, all piled on as well.

“Are we doing this right?” questioned Rhodonite.

“This is fun!” spoke the Rutile twins in unison.

“Garnet’s mass will cause Bismuth to tip over!” predicted Padparadscha, much to the fusion’s humor.

“Sorry, Pap, I’m taken,” she joked in response.

"Where have you even been this whole time?!" shouted Peridot in confusion.

"We were checking out your bathroom," answered the left Rutile.

"It's really nice!" complimented her twin.

Topaz, the only gem still indoors and outside the dogpile, could not resist and hopped on the very top.

“You’re all so nice! I want to stay on Earth forever!” she cheered shortly before the pile collapsed due to the uneven weight sending gems sprawling in every direction. The entire group, including Greg who had watched the whole spectacle, simply laughed at the event as they all laid spread out on the floor. They could have stayed that way for hours if it were not for a sudden appearance of a gem on the warp pad.

“So this is the rebel base? How quaint,” commented a monochrome pearl dressed entirely in blacks, whites and grays. She seemed to be missing an eye as a large crack ran through the right side of her face. She stood in a stiff pose with both her arms extended and bent at the elbows with a chilling smile on her face. The Crystal Gems were immediately alarmed by her presence and slowly approached the warp pad.

“Who are you? Explain yourself!” demanded Pearl as she brought out her spear. The intruding pearl did not blink at the implied threat.

“I am White Pearl, humble servant of the illustrious White Diamond. I am here to negotiate the terms of your surrender.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that didn't last long, now did it? What will White Pearl have to say and how will the Crystal Gems take it? Find out next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave any questions or comments below.


	28. Warning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, a surprise appearance by White Pearl. How will this go for the Crystal Gems?

It took several minutes for the new pearl’s words to sink in. All of the joy and warmth of their home was gone and replaced with pure dread. Steven, on the other hand, was stumped on something.

“Wait, who’s White Diamond?” he asked, which caused White Pearl to literally look down at him with her eye. Her expression and stance, while never changing, gave off a disturbing amount of arrogance.

“White Diamond is the grand architect of the entire, glorious gem empire. She is responsible for conceiving and creating every one of us. She is also greatly displeased with the failure of Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond in capturing the traitorous Rose Quartz responsible for shattering Pink Diamond.”

“If you want Rose, then you’re out of luck,” responded Garnet, “She’s…no longer with us.”

“Really? Because we have recorded footage of the battle. We clearly saw someone use Rose Quartz’s shield with her unique insignia on it. So that means you either present her immediately or have lying to a personal delegate of White Diamond added to your charges.”

Steven once again felt his temper flare up, a nasty side-effect of his recent repeated run-ins with Homeworld, and brandished the shield without any prompting.

“You were watching me,” he remarked, “But I’m not Rose Quartz. I lied to Yellow and Blue in the trial. Happy?”

“So we’ll have to add perjury to your crimes then,” remarked White Pearl without missing a beat, “Very well then. Is that your admission of surrender, Rose?”

“Did you not just hear him, you freak?! He’s not Rose so shut up and get out of our house already!” yelled Amethyst as she summoned her whip. The cracked envoy actually began to snicker at the threat.

“Oh my, it seems you’ve also been harboring defective gems! You’re just trying to be the most wanted gem in the universe aren’t you?” she asked Steven condescendingly before walking towards Amethyst, “And it seems she’s been feeding you delusions about having any form of importance or value despite your flaws. Such abuse.”

“I’LL SHOW YOU ABUSE, YOU-” she began to holler, but suddenly two more figures emerged from the warp stream. Two lithe gems dressed entirely in what appeared to be black jumpsuits with only their grey hands, feet, faces and a single white diamond emblem on their waist not appearing as through shrouded in shadows. They were, shockingly, completely bald and had their faces stuck in a permanent scowl. Without even making any audible footsteps they rushed right at Amethyst with two jet-black daggers in hand and struck her down. She could not even fight back before she was a helpless purple gemstone clattering on the floor.

“And now you’re defective quartz has seen what a proper gem can do thanks to my onyx bodyguards.” One of the onyxes held Amethyst’s gem in her hand and held her knife over it, a clear warning to the Crystal Gems that one false move would end their friend’s life.

The others were struck speechless by how blisteringly fast the two black gems could move. If it were not for the black roundish stones on their bodies, they might have guessed they were some sort of literal killing machine.

“That’s enough out of you! Put Amethyst down and leave our home now or you’ll regret it!” commanded Garnet as she stood several heads over White Pearl. Even still the slightly damaged gem was not intimidated.

“Well, it seems you’ve been fused for so long you’ve suffered some sort of mental damage. That must explain such delusional behavior if you honestly think you have the power to be making any sort of command.”

Garnet all but growled as she felt the desire to either freeze or burn the belligerent pearl only to be reminded of Amethyst still being held hostage.

“Now if we can act civilized from here on out, let us precede with the negotiations. Where would you prefer to conduct this business, Rose?” She then turned towards Steven, never changing her stance. Steven reluctantly put his shield away and led her to the porch outside. All gems on both sides followed him out with the onyx gems pushing their way out first. Even still Steven tried to keep a level head and gestured to a chair for White Pearl to sit in. Surprisingly she did so, though she apparently had to keep her arms outstretched at all times. Steven took the seat opposite of her as the congregation of Crystal Gems watched on. The onyx guards stood in front of all of them acting as a sort of buffer.

“Alright, if you want to talk then we can talk,” started Steven, “What do you want?”

“I want only what White Diamond wants and she wants you arrested and shattered for the shattering of Pink Diamond.”

“Why is she only getting involved now? She’s angry with the other diamonds or something?”

“Correct. Yellow and Blue are too emotionally involved with the matter to make effective decisions. This is why, in her boundless wisdom, White has decided to take a personal interest in this endeavor. It is an honor to be the subject of her attention.”

“Thanks…” Steven muttered to himself sarcastically, a sentiment that was shared by most of his family. “If we’re going to talk, I want you to let Amethyst go first.”

“You would honestly hold up negotiating your own safety to ensure the safety of a defective quartz?” asked White Pearl, actually managing to sound slightly shocked. Steven merely nodded and folded his arms, implying he would not go into any further discussion unless his demand was met. She eventually relented and had the onyx holding Amethyst’s stone to place it on the ground so she could reform in her own time.

“There. Your servant is no longer in any imminent danger. Satisfied?”

“She’s not me servant, she’s my _family_! If you want to talk, you don’t insult them anymore or you can just leave!”

“Oh my…You’ve gotten awfully sentimental after all this time. And here I thought you were a ruthless apostate dedicated to tearing down the Diamond Authority. Your edge has most definitely dulled over the ages, Rose Quartz!”

“And stop calling me that! My name is Steven!”

“Steven, don’t let her rile you up. You need to keep a level head,” advised Garnet from behind her guard. The boy heeded her words and took a deep breath.

“And Rose never wanted to destroy the diamonds, she just didn’t want a colony on Earth. I’m not proud of what she did in the past, but it’s done now.” He could not help but glance down at his gemstone at the thought.

“Whatever rationalization you have made to justify your actions does not concern me. All I am concerned with is if you will return to Homeworld and face the consequences of your crimes in peace,” responded the damaged diplomat. Steven may not have been a savvy strategist, but he knew enough to realize she just laid out her demands.

“And what if I say no?”

“Well then, White Diamond will have no choice but to obliterate you and your entire base. You and all of your insurgents will surely be shattered.”

That instantly put everyone on eggshells. Some like Pearl and Bismuth steeled themselves, clearly ready for a fight. Others like Adamite and Lapis were stupefied by such a blatant and morbid threat. And still others like Topaz and the Off-Colors began shaking at the foreboding possibility of losing their lives.

“WHAT?! You can’t do that!” shouted Steven in a panic, his heartbeat increasing. White Pearl looked as pleased as ever and actually chuckled as if she heard an entertaining joke.

“Well of course we can annihilate you, Rose! We have vastly superior technology, armies waiting at the ready to capture you, and an enormous list of charges you have to answer for!”

“You mean besides the Pink Diamond thing?! What else is there?!”

“Well, White did compile a list of all the crimes you and your associates have committed, so I will enlighten you. For a start there is the 248,309 gems shattered by rebel forces during your original rebellion.”

Steven did a massive double-take at that number. He knew Rose had to make some sacrifices in her fight for Earth, but to hear that hundreds of thousands of gems died thanks to her was almost too much to take. He was not the only one aghast by the statistic, either. Just about everyone outside of Garnet, Pearl or Bismuth was some combination of appalled, blown away or disbelieving. Even Adamite looked gobsmacked, apparently hoping she misheard it. One glance at Pearl, though, told her all she needed to know.

“And that’s not including Pink Diamond, mind you.”

Steven, and most of the other gems, did not want to hear the rest but they held their breath for White Diamond’s messenger to continue.

“Bringing in some more recent transgressions, there is the imprisonment of almost one hundred Homeworld soldiers and the shattering of one aquamarine.”

That got Steven to look away in regret. He was doing better than Topaz, however, as she began shuddering profusely. One of the onyx guards noticed her anxiety and forcefully pulled her out to the front. White Pearl quickly understood the situation.

“Ah yes, this is the one responsible for that crime. Perhaps you would be willing to turn over such a recent acquisition if it meant potential freedom for your more valuable subordinates?”

Topaz suddenly went from terrified to outright overwrought as she outright broke apart over the suggestion. Now separated into two slightly smaller, near identical gems, the topaz with the right-facing gem ran off the porch and onto the sand in tears with her left-gemmed lover chasing after her begging for her to calm down. Steven moved to stand up and go after them, but White Pearl was not having it.

“Are you leaving already? You haven’t given me any concrete answer.”

“I’m going to check up on my friend first! And no, I’d never sell her out just to save me!”

“No Steven, you need to focus on this. I can go talk to them if you want,” offered Garnet which he graciously accepted. The black gems allowed her to pass through and before long she was jogging out of sight.

“Back on the topic of your more recent offenses, there is that escape from your trial. You commandeered personal property of Blue Diamond, damaging it and the building in the process. There is also the destruction of several sentry robonoids that, as I can now tell, you did to save several off-color gems for some unfathomable reason.”

The foursome of former Homeworld refugees clearly did not take well to the comment. Even Padparadscha frowned at such a statement and had to hold back a remark about how the inquisitive pearl was being an offensive jerk, but bit her tongue. The others were also getting sick of the Homeworld gem’s impudent attitude and Steven was no exception.

“But above all that, Rose, White Diamond wants you shattered because you are the biggest threat to our glorious empire. A single infinitesimal mistake that somehow undid so much of our work.”

“She stopped one colony from being made! How does that make her any kind of a threat?!” shrieked Pearl, looking half ready to storm the table until one of the onyxes brought a dagger to her face. White Pearl resumed her speech.

“Your defective pearl raises a point there, Rose. Logic dictates that one failure out of thousands of successes warrants no intervention. But by that same margin, your failure is also an outlier. Never before have we witnessed a gem so defiant and so dangerous that she actually attacked her own diamond before. It was so unthinkable that even White was disturbed when she first heard the news. Hence why she along with the other two diamonds took such drastic action in ending your rebellion before it could become a large-scale epidemic.”

“Epidemic? No offense to Rose Quartz herself, but I sincerely doubt she would topple your entire infrastructure,” commented Peridot.

“Ah, but outliers are a troublesome matter. They defy all logic and throw off the rest of the data and as such are usually excluded. We did just that with the final solution to your original rebellion and, if you do not surrender, we will have to do the same with your current band before it gets out of hand.”

That statement made the entire group fall silent. Any and all thoughts outside of dread were gone. Lapis, despite feeling a sickening chill in the air, spoke up.

“So that’s it? You’re just going to have the diamonds blast us all to oblivion without a fight?”

“Of course not, that would be a remarkable waste of time and resources for the Diamond Authority. We have other means to dispose of you.”

While that spread a great sense of relief between them, it was still clear they were not out of the woods yet. Steven took a moment to breathe before speaking.

“So…If you’re not going to do that stunt that corrupted the gems like last time, then what are you going to do?”

“First of all, even if I possessed the information of how White Diamond planned to retaliate, why would I share any of it with you? Giving away such information to our greatest enemy would be an incomprehensibly illogical move. And secondly, what do you mean by corruption?”

The Crystal Gems all looked puzzled, but for two different reasons. The longtime members of the group were perplexed at her lack of insight while the newer members were all perturbed by the very mention of corrupted gems.

\---

While that was going on, Garnet eventually found the pair of panicked yellow gems sitting on the far end of the beach in walking distance of the Big Donut. The right-gemmed topaz was still bawling her eyes out while her left-gemmed partner tried to assuage her fear and guilt with sweet nothings in her ear. The taller fusion could not help but chuckle at their relationship. She decided to stay back and observe.

“Come on, Topaz, you don’t need to cry anymore,” assured the left-gemmed topaz, but her partner was having none of it.

“But Topaz, this is all MY fault! I got so angry that I shattered Aquamarine and now all those gems are in trouble!” She broke into a new round of blubbering. Her better half was not deterred.

“You weren’t the only one who hated her, Topaz. I couldn’t stand her as much as you and you know that.”

“B-But now Steven and all those nice gems are in trouble because of it…I don’t want to lose them or you!”

“Trust me, we were in trouble long before you got here,” interjected Garnet much to the yellow duo’s surprise. How they had missed the dark red, eight-foot tall fusion with the most peculiar afro ever coifed was beyond them, but they accepted her company.

“Is that pearl still there?” asked both of the topazes in unison causing Garnet to chuckle again. “Yes, but Steven seems to keeping the situation under control and the others are there in case she tries something.” She then turned to the right-gemmed half of the couple.

“Tell me why you’re so upset.”

“I-I just got carried away with Aquamarine s-so we shattered her so she couldn’t come after us, b-but now White Diamond wants to hurt everyone and-”

“She’s putting all the blame on herself,” interrupted the left topaz, “Because she’s always been the emotional one. It’s much easier to stay composed when we’re fused, but she just keeps kicking herself over this.”

“You know, you two sound so much like Ruby and Sapphire it’s almost scary. One who keeps her head down and the other wears her heart on her sleeve.” The topazes were not sure how to take the compliment.

“Umm…thanks?” responded the left half.

“You’re two different gems?” asked the right. Garnet held up their hands to reveal the two different, yet equally hued, stones. The pair could hardly believe it looking at her.

“I know it might seem weird or even wrong to you two, but it’s true. Ruby and Sapphire decided long ago they weren’t going to let Homeworld’s rules keep them apart. I’ve been around for thousands of years and through all the turmoil I’ve always been grateful to still be together. But what you two need to know is that you’re part of something bigger now. It isn’t you two going up against the diamonds by yourself. I promise that as long as you are on Earth nothing will break you up unless you both decide to go your separate ways.”

Both topazes said nothing, but shared a tearful glance at each other before hugging Garnet tightly and thanking her for the confidence boost. They wordlessly held hands and came together into their fused form, now able to look Garnet in the eye. The two then began their walk back to the house, wondering if the negotiations were going well in their absence.

\---

The tension among the group seemed dissipate for the moment as everyone present was at a loss. Since White Pearl had no idea what corruption Steven was referring to, he naturally explained how the final strike of the Diamond Authority had essentially mutated many of the rebellion, and several Homeworld gems still on the planet, into feral beasts with little trace of their original selves. The pearl seemed actually surprised for the first time.

“Well, I must admit that was an unexpected side-effect of their assault the diamonds were not aware of. I will have to inform White Diamond of this in my briefing.”

“So…what did think I meant by corruption?” asked Steven out of innocent curiosity, unaware of the can of worms he just opened.

“I was under the assumption that you were referring to yourself, Rose Quartz. If there was any corrupting force affecting our empire, it would most certainly be you.”

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” questioned Pearl in a very flat, steely tone. She, along with most of the other observers, were already tensing their shoulders and balling their fists in anger with that one statement alone.

“That the real corruption to gems is from your appalling disregard for the proper place and position of gems.”

As she continued, she actually lost her vapid smile as anger began to take hold. “White Diamond takes enormous care and consideration in the formation of every gem and how it fits into society. Your tactless approach of letting gems act however they wish is a disgrace to everything she and the other diamonds have worked for. Your original rebellion was proof of how flawed this system was, and yet it is clear you haven’t changed your ways.”

“Funny how flawed we were, and yet you’re so threatened by us,” blustered Bismuth.

“This attitude is exactly what I’m talking about! White Diamond designed the bismuth series to be approachable, efficient architects and yet you have warped this one into a defiant shell of her true self! You harbor broken and useless gems, forcing them to continue their existence instead of properly ending their torment.”

“And by that, you mean shattering, right?!” asked Adamite, her usual incurious nature replaced with slowly-growing rage.

“And on top of that, you seem to be under the dangerous delusion you are somehow helping these corrupted gems! As if your scandalous, perverted ways are for the betterment of gem kind! Even after all this time, you maintain such your arrogance and demented mentality! Your shattering might be the key to finally stopping such a perilous mindset. Now…I will ask you one last time. Will you see reason and surrender yourself to the Diamond Authority? Or will you prolong the inevitable by putting up a fight?”

Steven Universe merely sat there in response. He could not bear himself to speak or even look White Pearl in the eye out of fear for doing something reckless. Hatred bubbled in his stomach and even he felt his ringing as her tirade on why everything he believed in was wrong and disgusting. He could only imagine that this was how his mother on Homeworld so long ago. Before he could answer, however, someone else made their presence known.

“That’s enough out of you!” shouted Greg as he stormed out of the window he had been watching out of the entire time. He marched right through the peanut gallery, shoved past the onyx guards and stood over White Pearl.

“All you’ve done since you got here is insult my son, attack our friends and talk about how wonderful and amazing your diamond is supposed to be. If your diamond is so smart, could she maybe figure out how to tone down your ego and actually listen for a change?! Why should he do anything you ask of him?! And if that’s not enough reason, you are the most insufferable person I’ve ever met and you should’ve met my scumbag former manager who treats women like cattle and used me as his personal meal ticket! I honestly don’t know what gems have for a brain, but all I’ve seen is that you’re the defective one! You honestly think killing gems just because they don’t come out exactly how you like is helping them? That’s cruel AND insane! Rose may not have been perfect, but she’s a million times better than you. Now I want you and your cronies off my property before any more trouble happens.”

The cracked envoy was rendered speechless for a moment. She then turned to Steven and asked him a single question.

“You allow an organic life form in your base of operations?”

Steven nodded proudly, impressed at his father’s valor. The others could not help but be impressed with his fortitude. White Pearl had a slightly different reaction.

She burst into a fit of hysterical laughter made all the more uncanny by her never changing her facial expression or pose.

“HAHAHAHAHA! Oh my word, that’s the most outlandish thing I’ve seen all day! What, is it supposed to be your servant?! Or have you actually stooped so low as to form a bond with one of them?! AHAHAHAHAHAHA, OH MY WORD THAT IS HILARIOUS!”

Her cacophonous laughter was stopped, however, by the now thoroughly-fuming Pearl who charged through her guards so fast even they did a double-take and planted a punch right in her face. The blow was so hard it caused her to break right through the porch railings. She was launched clear over the Sun Incinerator and was finally forced to move her arms as she rolled haphazardly into the sand until she reached the shore. All she could do once she came to a stop was look up with a small frown on her face.

“That man happens to be a dear friend of mine. I don’t appreciate you insulting him or anyone else I love,” responded Pearl as she stood on the table. Steven’s draw had dropped and his eyes were filled with stars. White Pearl was no doubt incensed, but she still could not move her face freely. Instead she let her hatred show in three little words.

“Shatter her. Now.”

The onyx guards moved to shank her from behind with the same blinding speed as before only to have Steven catch them both with his shield just in time. For the first time since they came here, the shadowy gems looked alarmed as Steven glared up at them. White Pearl could scarcely believe that “Rose” could match the speed of two onyxes in that condensed form. Her incredulity only grew as Garnet and Topaz walked up to her, the former picking her up by her waist and carrying her under her arms.

“I think it’s time you go,” spoke the perma-fusion as she walked past the still stunned onyxes. She delivered a quick electric shock to both of them, forcing them back into their stones as passed. Topaz picked them both up and followed Garnet inside where she put the now shell-shocked pearl on the warp pad along with her poofed escorts.

“Tell White Diamond that the Crystal Gems don’t surrender. We never give up without a fight and we aren’t letting you anywhere near Steven again.” White Pearl merely stood up and resumed her usual pose despite the sand still coating her body and her hair buns being ruined. She kept the same small frown on her face, but it was apparent she was eager to see all of the rebellion get their dues. She silently beamed away as the rest of the group filed inside. Amethyst, who had reformed shortly after the negotiations began, looked almost as dismayed as the fleeing pearl.

“Garnet…does this mean-”

“Pretty much. We need to get ready for another Homeworld attack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well at least everyone is still intact, right? Tune in next time as the Crystal Gems go back on high alert with another fight with Homeworld on the horizon!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	29. Remain Calm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now after almost a month, (Curse you, real life responsibilities!) we return to Steven and the gang having to deal with the consequences of ticking off White Diamond.

Within five minutes of White Pearl’s departure the force field was reactivated and coded so the Off-Colors could all enter. Peridot wanted to expand the range so Fluorite would not be left out in the open, but the six-gem fusion insisted she would be alright and they had greater problems to worry about. They all agreed to leave it active at all times until the imminent threat was dealt with.

Peridot and Bismuth became focused on getting a proper security device for the warp pad and to ensure that Homeworld would not be able to send any more surprises into their base of operations. Thanks to all the crashed Homeworld ships and dozens of dropped destabilizers they had the perfect building materials. The Off-Colors all agreed to monitor the skies from the Sun Incinerator for any incoming threats. While they were somewhat shaky about piloting their ship without Lars, they all understood he wanted to get back to his normal teenage life. That got a chuckle out of Steven that for once he might actually be excited to go to work at the Big Donut.

Pearl and Garnet redoubled their efforts on training Steven. The two decided to start pushing him harder since he had proven himself in what they all decided to call the Battle for the Temple. Anytime he was not sparring with them to improve his skills he was running laps around Beach City, lifting weights (purchased by Greg in an effort to get himself into better shape along with his son), and occasionally helping Connie with her sword training. The rare moments he got to himself were either spent simply unwinding with Connie or reviewing what he had already learned so he would not get rusty.

This left the remaining gems to their own devices. Lapis Lazuli, Adamite and Cinnabar all became guards for the temple and surveyed Beach City on regular patrols along with refining their own fighting abilities with Pearl and Garnet. Topaz was reluctant at first, but she actually found her place with the Off-Colors on their ship. With her centuries of experience shuttling Aquamarine around, she took to the captain’s chair in no time and began to settle in to her own place. Amethyst, however, was the odd one out of the group as she seemed bizarrely disinterested. She was clearly distracted during any training sessions she showed up for, did not even bother with her surprise attacks on Steven anymore, and any and all attempts to console her were met with her blowing someone off and then literally running in the other direction.

To say that tensions were starting to run high at the temple was an understatement. While White Pearl’s blatant hubris and flagrant bigotry got the group fired up, she also dropped some information that did not sit well with the team. One particular instance of this strain came as the elemental trio returned to home base from one of their rounds.

“Lapis, I have some concerns I need to address,” asked Adamite as they walked into the temple past a still-forlorn Amethyst.

“What’s up? You felt something underground?”

“No potential hostiles, but I was mulling over some of the information that pearl gave out. She mentioned the shattering of Pink Diamond?”

“You mean you didn’t know?” Lapis looked at her green-skinned near-double only to find a solemn glance.

“Cinnabar and I spent millennia on this planet with no contact from Homeworld. We were aware the rebellion was over when we noticed the distinct lack of fighting, but we were never sure how.”

“Plus the giant beam of light sweeping over the place was a clue that something bad happened,” added Cinnabar as she took a seat on the counter idly twirling a flame between her fingers.

“Wait, you were here during the corruption?! How did you guys survive?”

“When we saw the insignia of the Diamond Authority in the sky and the massive light that came with it, I admittedly panicked and pulled Cinnabar as far underground as I could manage in my haste. It appears the weapon affected only the surface of the planet.”

“We were down there for hours and I couldn’t burn ANYTHING! It was the worst!” whined the pyrokinetic goofball. She briefly looked over towards Amethyst, sitting by the window as glum as could be, and pouted. Her attempt at getting another scrap going and potentially raise her buddy’s spirit failed.

“Anyway…As she said, we remained down there for an extended period of time until we emerged and suddenly found ourselves stranded on this planet. We more or less spent our remaining time wandering around, though we did find several wailing stones in our travels. We made some efforts to contact Homeworld, but we never received a response.”

“Probably because they didn’t want us back…” grumbled Cinnabar.

“Well, sorry about you guys getting dumped like that,” apologized Lapis, but Adamite moved closer to her and rested a hand on shoulders.

“My past is irrelevant at this point. In the end we are not only reunited, but now share a common goal. While I may not be entirely sure of what these Crystal Gems had to do in the past to achieve independence, these recent encounters with Homeworld have proven to me that I am fighting for a just cause. My greatest regret is attacking you and your allies in the name of rejoining a corrupt regime. I do hope you can forgive any harm I may gave done, Lapis Lazuli.”

“Uh…yeah, I get it. I…pretty much did the same thing when I first got out,” stuttered Lapis as she felt a twinge of anxiety in her gut.

“I see. Your incarceration no doubt left you paranoid about any potential threat, so acting rashly would be logical. I am grateful, however, to see you have become more like your past, more adventurous self. The same gem that would routinely take the longest route on any mission just to take in more of the scenery.”

“Shame I can’t remember it…”

“I will make it a prerogative of mine to assist you in restoring your memory once this conflict has ended. Until then, focus on the present and stay vigilant. It is apparent we are facing an uphill battle, but these Crystal Gems have clearly withstood the might of Homeworld before.”

Lapis smiled at her confident words, though also looked over and saw Adamite’s bulky hand on her shoulder. She felt a brief tingling at the touch until the larger gem walked up to the warp pad, looking to join Garnet for a round of hand-to-hand training. Lapis and Cinnabar followed not long after.

\---

Amethyst knew she could have been doing dozens of things to help the team or even herself. She could have been keeping Steven on his toes with her unique brand of training. She could have been keeping watch for any signs of Homeworld’s next attack. Heck, she could even be cracking jokes and quips to lighten the mood and keep everyone from getting down in the dumps.

So why had she not moved from the spot she had taken once White Pearl left and Garnet confirmed that another attack was imminent? She had asked herself that over and over again and each time the answer left a terrible feeling in her metaphorical stomach.

She was afraid. She was honestly more terrified than she had ever been in her entire life. She had faced literal monsters before, gone toe-to-toe with Homeworld in the past, and even faced her own inner demons and came out better at the end. She had long since accepted she was imperfect, but the last thing she ever wanted to be was a coward.

And yet no matter how hard she tried, she stayed put.

Every argument she made to herself to get up and be productive was met with a bolt of fear. Fear that she would let her family down, fear that all her efforts would be for naught, and fear that the others would chastise her for her weakness. Even when she told herself that last thought was ridiculous, that they would instead encourage her and push her up she could not budge. It was quite a destructive cycle with her pushing herself down further and further only to find more and more reasons to get up and do something about it.

In the end, though, no one disturbed her. They all passed by her either too busy to spare her more than a glance or decided she was capable of settling her own problem. That left Amethyst with plenty of time on her hands to wonder why she felt like there was nothing she could do. It even tempted her to just close her eyes and hope that this would all be over when she opened them again.

\---

Topaz was honestly impressed with how she was fitting in with the Off-Colors. With Rutile piloting the vessel, Rhodonite acting as an advisor and Fluorite and Pap to work the engine room together, she found herself slipping into the role quite comfortably. She wondered if spending so many years under Aquamarine’s comically undersized foot made her crave to be the leader for a change. That and doing all the actual work on their ship while the pint-sized brat merely barked out orders also helped boost her confidence.

Right now the five were gently making a final run of the planet before docking for the day on the beach. Despite knowing they were flying at breakneck speeds, Topaz found the job oddly relaxing. She especially enjoyed the personalities of her new crew with their quirks and charm quickly making her far more comfortable with them after a day then with anyone from Homeworld after several centuries. She was snapped out of her pleasant daydream by the ship’s scanners suddenly going crazy.

“Rutile, what’s the problem?” asked Topaz from the captain’s chair.

“A small fleet of gem fighters just came into our range!” reported the left twin urgently.

“They’ll be in Earth’s orbit any second now!” added the right twin with a twinge of panic.

“Oh no, they’re here already! There could be as many as twenty of them and we may outpace them, but they’ll overwhelm us with numbers!” fretted Rhodonite, though making a fair point. They could only hit so many with their blasters and Topaz knew that there would be larger ships with heavier firepower not long behind them.

“What about the Star Skipper? Couldn’t that help?” asked Topaz, only to be met with Fluorite poking her head out of the engine room.

“Too many of them for that. We need to outmaneuver them.”

“Look out! Thirty gem fighters and three warships are incoming!” shouted Padparadscha, inadvertently giving away just how many enemies they were facing.

“We need to alert the others! Rutile, set us for an immediate retreat” ordered Topaz, only to find them cut off by several of the fighters. The twins instead had to focus more on getting them out of the enemy fire rather than heading home.

“We need to dodge! The shields can only take so much punishment!” fretted Rhodonite, already hating the situation.

“You don’t think one of those warships is Emerald’s, do you?” asked the right Rutile, much to Topaz’s confusion.

“The gem Lars swiped the ship from. Now she hates us,” explained the left, getting the fused captain up to speed.

“But I thought she loved this ship…” muttered Fluorite, making a good point to the other Off-Colors. Emerald may have been relentless in chasing them across the galaxy, but she also loved this vessel with as much of a heart as any of them had. Padparadscha, unfortunately, gave them the answer.

“The fighters are a decoy for us! The warships are descending onto Earth!”

“WHAT?!” panicked the rest of the ship. Rutile checked and found that, indeed, the warships were flying past them and towards the blue planet as they were still evading the hoard of fighters trying to blast them to bits.

“We need to tell the others about this! Doesn’t this ship have a communicator?” asked Topaz, only to be met with more bad news from Rhodonite.

“Yes, but the Crystal Gems don’t have any devices that can receive communications from this ship. We might as well be stranded out here!”

Topaz racked her brain for a solution, but found herself being distracted as the ship was jeering every which way trying to evade the swarm of ships. She could tell that Rutile was trying to fight back, but was more preoccupied with keeping them in one piece.

“One piece…” muttered the yellow fusion, before hatching an idea, “That’s it! We could use the Star Skipper to get one of us back to Earth and warn the others!”

“That…could actually work!” agreed Rhodonite as she felt a weight lift off her shoulders, “Those fighters are specifically looking at us. As long as the scout ship is discreet, we should be able to make it back with no problem.”

“Topaz will come up with an idea to save us!” cheered Padparadscha, further bolstering their confidence.

“Alright, then it’s settled. So who wants to go then?” asked Topaz. Rutile knew they were needed at the controls, Fluorite simply could not fit in the ship and Padparadscha was far from a skilled flyer. She figured she could split up, but then Rhodonite made a surprising announcement.

“I’ll do it.”

“Really?” asked both the Rutile twins in unison. The shaky fusion merely stood her ground.

“Let’s face it, everyone else here is too important or simply can’t fly the ship. I’m not very experienced, but I think Topaz needs to stay together to lead us to the best of her ability. As long as you can get Homeworld’s attention, I should be able to make it back undetected.”

“I think we can manage that,” smirked Rutile as Rhodonite ran off to jump in the scout ship and begin her gambit.

“You think you can distract them long enough to let her get back to the temple?”

Before she could answer, four more fighters began flying at them from all directions. Rutile guided their thrusters as far up as they would allow and nearly caused a four-way collision.

“I think we’ll be just fine, Captain Topaz.”

And with that, the dogfight was on as Topaz kept a keen eye on the horizon for any additional surprises Homeworld might have up their sleeve while Rutile handled the flying, Pap kept their spirits up and Fluorite made sure everything below deck was in order. Even with the imminent danger, Topaz felt a sense of comfort and hope having such a dedicated crew behind her. It sure beat hearing a microscopic egomaniac bark orders at her while she did all the actual work.

\---

Back down on Earth, oblivious to the impending danger, Steven was in the middle of a training session with Pearl, Adamite and Cinnabar in the field near where the barn used to be.

With his skills continuing advancing, Pearl felt it was time to test him with something less predictable and the elemental gems provided the perfect opportunity for the boy to learn how to expect the unexpected. His endurance was also leagues beyond when he started as the boy had going for almost half an hour straight and barely showed any signs of slowing down. The goal was for Steven to avoid being cornered by the three for as long as possible. So far he had only been pinned twice and insisted he had the energy to keep going.

The three gems were surrounding Steven, planning to surprise him at any moment. Now that he has shown his skills in actual battle, they had to take the training up a notch and being more sporadic with when and how they were attacking. As such, Cinnabar lobbed several fireballs at him to start things off with no formal warning. Rather than panic or dodge, he summoned his whip and snapped at the flaming projectiles long before they could reach him.

This turned out to be a distraction, though, as Adamite tunneled up to right behind him and made to grab his ankles. Steven looked down in the nick of time and leapt several feet backwards with a single bound, but found himself face-to-face with Pearl charging at him with her spear at the ready. He brought out his own spear and the two began matching each other blow for blow, dodging stabs and blocking with amazing precision. Despite being less experienced, Steven was proving remarkably agile despite his portly build and even managed to get his weapon under Pearl’s feet and knocked her to the ground.

That’s when Adamite and Cinnabar surprised him by rushing at him from both sides. The boy tried jumping out of the why, but Pearl was one step ahead of him as she pretended to be more out of it than she was. The elemental gems sent rocks and flames up after him as Pearl charged at him with a super-jump of her own. Steven quickly summoned a bubble to protect himself from the rudimental missiles, but was still knocked back as Pearl whacked him down to Earth resulting in him tumbling around in his own bubble.

As soon as he reached the ground and let down his defense, though, a stone hand emerged from the ground and grasped him by the waist.

“Got you,” smirked Adamite, pleased to see she was getting better at anticipating her opponents. Pearl and Cinnabar both made a dash for the trapped boy to make him tap out, but Steven had other plans. He flexed his arms, pushing the limits of his superhuman strength. As his two opponents got closer, he finally managed to crack and then break his earthen restraint. He then grabbed two chunks of broken rock and chucked them at the incoming gems, remembering to use any advantage he could get in a fight. Cinnabar got struck in the knee and tumbled while Pearl merely dodged. The two came face to face again with Steven summoning a gauntlet in one hand and his signature shield in the other as Pearl formed her spear once again. The pair clashed with an intensity that would worry anyone unaware that this was a common sparring match. Pearl may have had the better reach and experience, but Steven had better defenses and versatility with his combo of weapons.

It is a shame he was so caught up with Pearl that he did not notice Cinnabar blazing a path behind him with both her arms wreathed in flames. He ended up getting a scorching hug that shocked him out of his fight and made him cry out in pain. He fought the burning around his midsection, though his trademark shirt was not so lucky, and stomped on the gem’s foot as hard as he could to free himself.

“Steven!” shouted Pearl as she instantly dropped the act as she saw burns form on both of his arms. Adamite walked up to her long-time companion and glared at her while crossing her arms.

“Heh heh, oops,” chuckled a very embarrassed Cinnabar, “Too much?”

Adamite responded by making the fire-starter sink up to her head in the dirt. While that was going on, Pearl was inspecting the nasty burns forming on Steven’s forearms.

“And this is why I started packing more supplies. I knew I should have grabbed that defibrillator when I had the chance…” she mumbled to herself as she pulled a vial of pink water from Rose’s fountain out of her gem and poured it all over the afflicted areas before it could blister. After only a minute, the boy’s arms were as good as new.

“Thanks Pearl! Now let’s go again!” the boy assured, but Pearl simply shook her head.

“Steven, I think that’s enough for today. But you did an excellent job considering we weren’t holding back much. Next time, I’ll have to start you on how to incorporate fusion weapons into your repertoire.”

“Come on, Pearl, I’m fine! I know I can keep going until-” was all he got out before he suddenly fell on his face, completely out cold. Pearl immediately flipped him on his back and looked him over.

“It appears you were right to stop when you did. He has does not have the energy to stand let alone keep working.”

“This isn’t right,” Pearl fretted, “He doesn’t just fall unconscious like this! We need to get him back to the temple!”

Pearl hefted the boy into her arms and dashed towards the warp pad with Adamite close behind. Cinnabar was horrified to see them leave without here.

“Adamite, can I at least be let out? This is starting to itch!”

She was unceremoniously launched out of the ground by a pillar of rock from underneath and landed flat on her face.

“Thank you…” She eventually dusted herself off and made her way back after Pearl and Adamite had already beamed back to home base.

\---

Not long before the gems warped in, Peridot and Bismuth put the final touches on the brand-new warp pad security system. While rather unorthodox device as a two-foot tall set of metal spires interconnected by conduits at various intervals with three pillaged gem destabilizers sticking out of the top, the duo assured that they could now stop any more unwanted visitors with a press of a remote control Peri had wired up to the device.

The new upgrade, though, was the last matter on everyone’s minds as they gathered around an unconscious Steven laying in his bed upstairs.

“You must have really done a number on him with training…” muttered Lapis as she looked down at the now-helpless hybrid.

“He was just fine up until that point! This doesn’t make any sense! What could just make him black out like this?” asked Pearl wringing her hands in worry.

“Well, there was that time he got knocked out when we...kidnapped him,” admitted Cinnabar with a heavy amount of shame in her voice.

“You said you never laid a finger on him,” commented Garnet, remembering the terms of Steven and the gem’s agreement from when they were enemies.

“We never harmed him directly. While we were traveling, though, he stumbled on a large cliff and was unconscious when we checked on him. From there I carried him the rest of the way and he was awake by the time you confronted us,” informed Adamite who could not ignore a small jolt as she remembered the ticked fusion electrocuting her into submission.

Before the group could piece together this mystery, though, a massive crash came from outside. The entire group left Steven on his bed and rushed outdoors to find the scout ship for the Sun Incinerator half stuck in the sand from a poor landing. Rhodonite, shaking like a leaf, climbed out of the ship’s hatch and stumbled onto solid ground.

“Rhodonite, what are you doing here? Where’s Topaz and the main ship?” asked Peridot, miffed at the thought that the vessel was damaged on impact.

“W-W-We’re under attack! Dozens of H-Homeworld fighters are a-after us and t-this was the only way we could tell you about it!”

“WHAT?!” shouted everyone present, even Garnet. To make matters worse, but she was still stammering and shaking with the even worse news in mind.

“A-A-A-And there are three w-warships heading for the temple! W-We needed to let you know so they sent me!”

Now the group was in a full-blown panic. They rushed the frayed gem inside to the safety of the temple, and noticed that Amethyst was still sitting by the window, watching the waves go by without any sort of care or concern. Bismuth went over to her.

“Hey Amethyst, up and at ’em, let’s go!” Despite talking right into her ear, the scrapper did not budge.

“Come on, we can mope around later, we’ve got a serious problem!” She then pushed Amethyst, but found her fall on her face with no resistance. The now-confused Bismuth flipped her around and noticed that the smaller gem was out for the count, but that quickly faded from her mind when she saw Amethyst’s gemstone.

It had no color whatsoever.

“Guys, we got another problem!” shouted Bismuth to get the attention of everyone, panicking inside about how they were going to deal with this on top of the oncoming attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I didn't think I could ever do a double-cliffhanger, but there you go! Amethyst is getting unlocked next AND there's a Homeworld fleet coming for them. Until next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


	30. Unlocking Amethyst

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we dive into the mind of a rambunctious prankster whose lived for millennia yet has serious self-esteem issues...I love this story!

There was a time when Steven Universe would have completely lost his mind with all the chaos and tumult that came with ticking off Homeworld. Had this happened to him months ago when he was more or less the tagalong kid of the Crystal Gems, the boy would have been completely horrified at the prospect of an entire armada of troops led by three megalomaniacal tyrants wanting his gem as a war trophy. Nowadays, it merely ticked him off. All he wanted these days was some peace and quiet and yet they insisted on coming after him again and again. They have kidnapped him, threatened his family, have made it clear about wanting Earth destroyed and have clear intentions to do this on top of countless other atrocities they have committed in the past and plan to continue doing in the future.

These were the thoughts going through his head as he laid with his eyes closed, wondering if he really had pushed himself too hard with training and his body just gave up on him. That notion, as well as the passive-aggressive thoughts about where Homeworld could send their next fleet, left him when he finally opened his eyes to a sight even more surreal than the last time he was unconscious.

He quickly learned that he was nowhere near the DeMayo family field anymore as he could see the sky was now stark white, as if all the clouds in the sky formed into one shapeless mass and no gray or shadows to tell them apart. Actually, he could see various gray masses above him, but something about them seemed wrong as looked at any one of them too long gave him a headache. He also noticed that the ground felt bizarre, as he open and closed his hand and felt rocks, sand and other bits and pieces he could not identify. As he stood on his feet again, the abnormalities grew even stranger.

The entire ground was made of random flooring materials. Rocks, sand, tiles, wood planks, glass shards, carpet squares and countless bits and bobs of trash made up the ground. When Steven looked up, he noticed those bits in the sky were more random objects. Some were so far away there was no way to tell, but others he could clearly make out a few feet away from him. To make matters weirder all of them were colored a dull gray, like all of them had the life and vibrancy sucked out of them. He reached out and picked up an old cell-phone and felt it was fully solid, but also solid gray. When his fingers touched it, though, the case turned a bright red and even turned on displaying a random screensaver. As soon as he dropped it, it was a lifeless piece of gray technology.

_“Well, I’m in someone’s head again,”_ thought Steven to no one in particular, _“And I can already guess who it is…”_

“Hey Steven!” shouted Amethyst as she ran up to him with her arms full of random junk. Much like when Steven grabbed the phone, it was all fully colored compared to the gray mass around them.

“Isn’t this place great?!”

\---

The atmosphere of the beach house was, to put it gently, horrible. With both Amethyst and Steven out for the count it only made it that much harder for the Crystal Gems to deal with the impending Homeworld attack. Even with so much going wrong, though, Garnet kept her head on her shoulders.

“Alright Rhodonite, tell us everything you know about this Emerald and the ships she’s using.”

“W-Well, Emerald is a gem enforcer that’s been after ever since Lars first swiped the Sun Incinerator from her and her guards…”

“That makes perfect sense,” remarked Peridot, “Emeralds are what humans would equate to law enforcement. They are vigilant, ruthless peacekeepers who look to apprehend any wrongdoers and maintain order in gem society.”

“So…We’re being harassed by a space cop?” asked Lapis sardonically, honestly not believing what she was hearing. While her comment did bring some much-needed levity, everyone was quick to get back on track.

“And you’ve also said that Emerald is very attached to her ship, correct?” asked Adamite.

“Yes, she chased across at least thirty galaxies just to get it back. A-And now she’s got a huge squad of fighters to keep them occupied up in space-”

“-While they send the big guns down here with no way to fight back,” finished Bismuth, grumbling to herself that the enemy had a pretty sound strategy.

“Alright, so we’ve established that we’re in a disadvantageous position due to our limited options,” weighed Pearl, “But we need to also acknowledge what we do know. Rhodonite, what can you tell us about this enemy?”

“Well, aside from Emerald being relentless, she commands a huge warship called a Destiny Destroyer-”

“SHE HAS WHAT?!” screamed Peridot, suddenly sweating and shaking like most of the group have never seen. She proceeded to leap onto Rhodonite on all fours and cling to the fusion’s midsection.

“And you’re telling me now there’s THREE of them?! We need to get out of here before we’re all atomized!”

“Peridot, calm down!” ordered Lapis, “What’s so bad about these ships?”

“The Destiny Destroyer was still in the prototype stages when I was on Homeworld, but when I heard the specifications of it, my mind was blown. A massive vessel with a crew of over a hundred gems with enough firepower to blow through practically anything that stood in its way! It blew up meteors the size of equal to the size of the statue above the temple just for testing! If Homeworld has those pointed at us, we don’t have a chance of matching that kind of power!”

“But I thought that’s why you made this force field?” asked Cinnabar.

“While it may have the defensive capabilities to withstand laser fire from common gem fighters, I never tested it for assaults of this caliber…” Peridot visibly deflated when she realized her own mistake.

“The downside of hijacking enemy tech is sometimes you don’t know what you’re working with,” added Bismuth, also kicking herself for overlooking such a critical aspect.

“But that shield was still up after the planet-wide Corrupting Light hit,” added Pearl, hoping to raise the morale, “Surely no common weapon would be able to pierce a shield of that strength!”

Adamite disagreed. “I sincerely doubt that. Considering that Cinnabar and I managed to evade such an attack by burrowing underground far enough, I would guess that whatever sent that attack was designed with range over destructive power in mind. If this is an actual weapon with that much tonnage behind it, we are in an even worse position than we realized.”

“You’re right…” whispered Garnet, who looked like she had just seen a ghost.

“What’s the matter Garnet?” asked Pearl.

“If those ships hit…Beach City won’t survive even if the shield holds…”

\---

Steven was more confused than ever. When he did this with Garnet, she was clearly suffering from depression and misery. The otherwise immovable object was starting to crack and almost crumbled right in front of him. He honestly never wanted to consider what might have happened had he not intervened, especially with him being held hostage at the time.

“Amethyst, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Uh yeah,” she answer lackadaisically, “Why? You got your banana jammies in bunch and want to talk it out?”

“I’m asking you that! There must be something wrong with you!”

“You know Steven…There is something wrong.” Amethyst suddenly dropped her entire junk pile, returning it all to its grayed-out state.

“Really? What is it?”

“It’s a super serious problem that only you and I can tackle together. Will you help me, Steven?”

“Of course! Tell me what it is and I’ll help!”

“I…”

“Yes?”

“Need you…”

“Uh-huh?”

“TO LOOSEN UP!” The purple hooligan fell on her backside from laughing so hard, while Steven just looked at her in confusion.

“Oh, and watch this!” Amethyst picked up a handful of scraps from the ground, turning an assortment of colors in her grasp, but with one squeeze of her hand the bits and bobs became a bag of potato chips.

“Whaaa?”

“Awesome, right? This place can be anything you want!” Just to prove her point, Amethyst looked to the side and made a twenty foot-tall pile of snow to form out of the field of hodgepodge. She then grabbed several pieces of scrap out of the air and made an old-fashioned wooden sled.

“Come on man! Make yourself something and go nuts!”

\---

“Garnet, you saw this happening?! Since when?” asked Lapis, possibly missing her cozy home in the mirror for the first time in millennia.

“Just now. And almost every outcome is the same even if the shield holds; Beach City is little more than a crater after the attack is over.”

“Then we need to inform everyone in town immediately! I’ll call Connie and Greg right now and tell them to start spreading the news and get everyone to evacuate.” Pearl brought out her cell phone and began dialing as fast as she could. She would have Mayor Dewey’s number, but the man kept sending far too many romantic texts for her liking so he was permanently blocked.

“So now what?” asked Cinnabar, “Do we just run away? I thought we weren’t going to let those Homeworld jerks walk all over us!”

“If we must strategically retreat in order to survive, then that is what must be done. We have little chance to retaliate without access to our best weapon,” commented Adamite only to immediately be scolded by Lapis.

“You mean we should just run away and let Emerald level the town?! No way am I letting all those people lose their homes! Go ahead and leave if you want, but I’m staying and keeping everyone safe!”

“That’s a very admirable thought, but logic dictates that we have little other option if we wish to avoid being potentially disintegrated.”

“Logic dictates we should’ve lost to Homeworld the first time, yet here we are,” added Bismuth, “And I know for a fact that Rose would never leave dozens of people to get obliterated by some overpowered upper-crust. We need to buckle down and find some way to survive this without putting everyone in danger.”

Lapis looked at her and gave a small nod in appreciation.

“Fighting between ourselves is still going to solve nothing, though,” added Garnet, “We need to prioritize getting the people of Beach City to safety. Once that’s taken care of, we can address how we are going to withstand this attack.”

“I’ve already called Connie and Greg to spread the word and get everyone involved. They should be able to help the mayor handle this,” assured Pearl.

\---

The benefits of living in such a small town like Beach City was that news always traveled fast. If a business failed a health inspection, it took only a day for everyone in town to distance themselves from the place. In the case of a town-wide emergency, it took exactly eighteen minutes to have the entire town assemble on the boardwalk with the news to immediately flee their homes until further notice.

This naturally did not sit well with the usually relaxed population of the town considering the debacle that happened months ago with the space ship and one of their own recently being abducted.

Mayor Dewey, standing in the back of his old reelection van, was barely keeping the outrage down even with the help of Greg and Connie.

“What do you mean, we all need to flee town?!” cried Kofi Pizza, “We thought this town was safe now that Lars was back!”

“Everyone, just calm down!” yelled Connie, “This is only a temporary thing! The Crystal Gems will handle the situation and then everything will be fine.”

“For how long?!” asked Mrs. Barriga who looked already on the verge of a panic attack, “First they kidnap my son and now they want to attack our town?! Maybe they should just surrender to those aliens and save us all the trouble!” That unfortunately appealed to most of the crowd and caused many to start yelling for the Crystal Gems to hand themselves over.

“Now come on guys,” assuaged Greg, “Those guys have been saving your bacon for years now, longer than any of us have been alive. We need to calm down and do what they say because they just want people to be safe.”

“And how do we know that the gems and these invaders aren’t in some sort of alliance?” asked Ronaldo, “Maybe this is all some conspiracy between them and the canned vegetable industry to-”

“SHUT UP, RONALDO!” yelled every single person in the assembly. They might have been filled with delusions and paranoia, but everyone knew better than to take what that boy said to heart.

“Now, I understand why everyone is afraid at the moment,” assured Mayor Dewey, for once not sweating despite the severity of the situation, “But I for one put my faith in the Crystal Gems. They have never let us down before and if these two, who know that group much better than I do, trust them then so do I.”

That actually made the crowd pause and consider his words.

“SO YOU TRUST THEM MORE THAN US?!” shouted Kevin, his normally flippancy causing yet more grief. That got the crowd whipped up again and about ready to charge the van in a frenzy until one voice called out.

“WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP?!” shouted Lars, wearing his old Big Donut uniform along with his new skull earrings, as he shouldered his way through the crowd and stepped up to the van.

“Connie, get me one of the gems on the phone.” The young girl pulled out her own cell and dialed Pearl. As soon as she picked up, she handed it over to Lars.

“Pearl, it’s Lars. What’s going on?” He stood there simply absorbing everything she said, completely ignoring the staring crowd. The onlookers, his parents especially, were stunned by his bravado. Those who knew the old Lars knew he would practically be losing his bladder had he spoke in front of a crowd like this before.

“Alright, listen up!” he spoke up after hanging up, “The problem is three giant alien warships that want to blow up the Crystal Gems and they don’t care about the collateral damage. They’re headed by a psycho named Emerald who chased me across the galaxy to get her ship back. The best thing to do now is stop whining, get a grip and do what you’re told unless you want to get vaporized.”

While a select few in the crowd, namely Sadie and the boy’s parents, were stupefied by his compelling tone the rest fell into a panic. Lars rubbed the bridge of his nose as the citizens of the town all but started a riot.

“You know, I think I would actually rather see Emerald again than deal with this…” he muttered to himself. Mayor Dewey decided it was time to finally speak up.

“Everyone, settle down right now!” he yelled with far more force than anyone, even his own son, had ever heard. For once he had everyone’s undivided attention and staring them all straight in the eye.

“I am beyond terrified right now. I’ve tried running away from my problems or dusting them off or, I’ll admit it, pushing the blame onto someone else. But right now, this town does not need a politician. It needs an actual leader, someone who can keep a level head no matter what’s coming. Now we can either stay here screaming at each other and getting nothing done, or we can buckle down and head out before the worst happens. Anyone else agree?”

It was slow at first, but the audience began clapping for him. Not the usual polite bout of clapping that was expected in response to the mayor making a public statement, but genuine applause out of respect and admiration. Even Dewey himself could hardly believe his own words, but he simply smiled as the crowd fell away. He could overhear several people making plans to evacuate as soon as possible with Connie eventually leaving with her parents. That left only Greg, Lars and the mayor atop the van on the boardwalk.

“Bill, that was really something,” complimented Greg, “Where did all that come from?”

“From you, young man,” he looked at Lars, “Your words inspired me like I haven’t been in years. It took me back to a time when I was a wide-eyed kid who just wanted to make his hometown an even better place. Thank you.”

“A-anytime, s-sir,” stuttered Lars, some of his old anxiety returning. He never imagined he could actually move people, but then again he remembered his weeks of time aboard the Sun Incinerator. He kept everyone at their peak no matter how troubling the straits were. He enjoyed a brief reprieve from his captain duties, but now Lars felt ready to do something more productive with his life. While he knew the ship was in good hands with Steven and his friends, he wondered what else he could do to help. For now, though, the boy simply went on his way back to his house to pack up his things in case Emerald decided to level his home.

The boy took a brief moment to chuckle over how insane his life had gotten. A few months ago his biggest problem was the drudgery of his day job or the pain of public schools. Now he was in life-or-death situations involving psychotic alien rock women. And yet here he was, smiling more at this than in all the years of his first-world problems.

The boy walked home, wondering about all the ways he could help once this particular debacle was over. His coat was hanging in his closet for just the occasion.

\---

Steven had mixed feelings about this situation. While he was grateful that his mental realm was not collapsing around him and Amethyst was not having an episode, he knew something was deeply wrong.

What did not help was how Amethyst seemed dead set on talking about anything except what brought him here. All she kept doing was cracking jokes, making bad puns and sometimes literally pulling shiny objects out of midair to distract him.

“Hey Steven, want to see me eat a bag of chips in ten seconds?”

“Yo Steven, try pushing a screwdriver into a watermelon. It looks super weird!”

“Man, Pearl would be having a heart attack if she saw this!”

Although Steven did have to admit that last one was funny to imagine.

Even still, while he did miss Amethyst’s quips and sense of humor with how serious everything had gotten he knew something was amiss.

After several minutes of pondering to himself on how to best handle the situation, he eventually just tried to play along and let Amethyst open up on her own terms. The problem was that while the gem may have run out of potential distractions in the real world, she had literally infinite resources to keep herself occupied with. One second she was bowling with a giant gumball and copies of _Seventy Hues of Alabaster_ as pins. The next second she was just literally throwing things into the air and making them change into different forms as they fell. The kid all but lost his head when she chucked a bicycle wheel that came down as a bowling ball.

“Dang, man, this place is the best!” she boasted, “No more of that serious junk here. We can just goof off all we want!”

Steven’s eyes lit up hearing that. Now he had an idea about the issue.

“Sooo…you don’t like how serious everything is now? Why is that?”

“Dude, I think we both know why. Everyone’s all scared of Homeworld because ‘Oh man, they’ve got stuff to blow us up with!’ Who cares?”

The hostility in her voice did not escape Steven. “So you’re saying you don’t care about Homeworld? I thought you wanted to protect Earth.”

“What?!” she gasped, “I didn’t say that! Of course I want to save Earth, it’s my home for crying out loud!”

“Then why are we just sitting here and doing nothing? We should be back at the temple helping everybody!”

“W-well, when did you start becoming the fun police?!”

“What?!” Steven could tell he was breaking through, but her constant dodging the question was grating on him. He would have to ask Garnet for some tips on mentoring later.

“Man, can you just let me have this?! What’s gotten into you?!”

“I have a responsibility now to keep Earth safe, Amethyst, and so do you!”

“Fighting a random gem monster is one thing, but fighting an entire war?! That’s insane!”

Steven was taken aback by that. “You mean…like the first time?”

“Uh, I wasn’t around the first time, remember?! If you all want to run off and take on an entire planet, fine then, but I’m not doing it!”

“Really?! You’re just going to abandon everyone and stay in your own head forever?! That’s the real insanity!”

“Who are you to tell me what to do?!”

“I’m your friend and your family!” choked Steven as his emotions started to get the better of him, “Please Amethyst, just tell me what you want so we can get out of here!”

“I don’t want your help!”

“Why not?!”

“Because it’s none of your business!”

Steven had to bite back a groan as his patience started to drop. “Amethyst, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong! You don’t want to fight, fine, then you can maybe help out someone in the back! We can find something for you to do if you don’t want to be up front.”

“I don’t want that either! Just drop it already!”

“Not until you give me a straight answer! If you don’t want to fight, but you don’t want to not fight, then what do you want?”

“I DON’T WANNA DIE!” The purple gem dropped to her knees. Her eyes were already streaming tears. The white sky above them suddenly turned black and the grayed-out objects around them suddenly became stark white instead before losing all shape and turning into am endless field of paste.

“Amethyst…”

“There…” she whimpered, “Happy now?”

\---

The Crystal Gems were all on edge now more than ever. After Pearl received a phone call from Lars of all people asking for the details about their crisis with Homeworld, Connie called back not long after and told that her family along with everyone else in Beach City was heading inland away from the oncoming attack.

“Well, at least collateral won’t be an issue now,” commented Bismuth, trying to look on the bright side of their situation. Garnet decided it was time to move forward.

“Now that people won’t get hurt, we need to buff up our defenses any way we can. Lapis, I need you to stay outside and put up the sturdiest water wall you can.”

The maritime gem wordlessly flew outside and put up a staggering water wall on the edge of the shore, easily as tall as the temple. An ethereal blue glow entered the house as the sunlight shone through the aquatic barrier.

“Adamite, in case that’s not enough, stay outside and send up a rock wall. Also make sure Lapis doesn’t get discouraged or upset and remains focused."

“Understood.” The green elemental went outside and joined her blue-coated doppelganger.

“Peridot, I want you and Bismuth to ensure the shield is at full capacity. If you can find any way to potentially boost its strength, do it.”

“Right!” exclaimed Peridot, eager to have anything to distract her from the looming dread. Her dreadlocked partner in crime followed behind, appreciating that Garnet was doing her best to keep everyone’s spirits up.

“Garnet…” muttered Pearl once everyone else was out of earshot, “Do you honestly think we can survive this?”

“We’ve been through worse,” she shrugged, “And besides, I have a hunch Rose would think the same thing.”

“Yeah. She would,” remembered Pearl, who could practically hear her mentor driving them forward.

That left Rhodonite with little to do but watch over the senseless Steven and Amethyst laying side by side on the former’s bed upstairs. She twiddled all four of her thumbs as she felt the minutes crawl by, hoping that her old crew was alright above the atmosphere while her new friends around her could figure out a way to survive Emerald’s wrath. She did feel that would be a pretty cruel twist of fate for her to finally get the freedom she desired for so long only to have it taken away a split second later. When she looked down at Amethyst again, though, she was snapped out of her pessimism.

“Guys, get up here! Something’s seriously wrong with your friend!”

Rhodonite had never seen a gem start fading into nothingness before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO. MANY. SCENE CHANGES. And I'm pretty sure the next chapter, where everything wraps up, is going to have EVEN MORE. Hooray...  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.


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